3 takeaways from England's 3-0 Test whitewash against West Indies
England beat the West Indies by 10 wickets in the third and final Test of the series played between the two teams at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Sunday, July 27, to complete a whitewash and take the series 3-0. The visitors struggled to come to terms with the challenges sent their way by the English in this series. The difference in class between these two teams was obvious at times.
England will be extremely pleased with this showing of theirs, and hope that they can carry it forward, especially in the series against Sri Lanka, slated to start on August 21.
The men from the Caribbean, however, will not be satisfied with their performances in this series and barring the odd good showing from a player or two, did not have anything to write home about.
In this listicle, we take a look at three key takeaways from England's whitewash:
#1 Bazball is here to stay
One of the biggest takeaways from this series is the fact that Bazball is here to stay. The English have almost completely changed the way Test cricket is played in modern times, and it is not going to change anytime soon.
Coached by former Kiwi wicketkeeper-batter Brendon McCullum, the English have managed to take all their opponents by surprise by adopting an extremely attack-based game plan in Test cricket.
This has caught the opposition bowlers unawares on most occasions and allowed the English batters to capitalize on the mistakes made by the former. The same was the case in this series as well.
The climax of the series came in the third and final Test in which England chased down the 87 required of them in just 7.2 overs in the fourth innings, with skipper Ben Stokes scoring a 24-ball half-century - the fastest so far by an Englishman.
#2 Kavem Hodge comes of age
Although the West Indies batters continued to disappoint throughout the series, one man who held the fort for them on more than one occasion was Kavem Hodge.
The 31-year-old seems to have finally come of age after scoring a brilliant century (120) in the second Test in Nottingham and a steely half-century (55) in the third Test in Birmingham.
Along with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, who ended the series with two half-centuries to his name, Hodge managed to showcase some grit required of batters at this level and forced the hosts to sit up and take notice.
There is still a long way to go for either Hodge or the rest of the Windies batters, especially in overseas conditions - and this 0-3 whitewash is going to rankle deeply - but Hodge's performance was a big positive.
#3 England have enough seamers in the ranks
Another big takeaway from the series is the fact that England have enough seamers in their ranks to cover the absence of the experienced James Anderson and not let others feel the void he has left.
Anderson retired from Test cricket after the first match of the series at Lord's, but it is safe to say that the English have not quite struggled to find their feet in this absence.
Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson stepped up well in Anderson's absence, and with the young Matthew Potts in the ranks, the Three Lions are not going to face a dearth of seamers anytime soon.