Mark Wood joins England squad for second Test against West Indies

England has added fast bowler Mark Wood to their squad for the upcoming second Test against the West Indies, scheduled to take place at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on July 18.

The England team is currently leading the three-Test series after a dominating victory in the first match, where they defeated the West Indies by an innings and 114 runs at Lord’s.

Wood will replace James Anderson, who has retired from red-ball cricket following his last Test appearance at Lord’s. The 41-year-old Anderson leaves a significant gap in the squad.

Mark Wood last played in a red-ball match during England's tour of India in March. He was not included in the Lord’s Test to give him enough recovery time after participating in the T20 World Cup 2024, where England was eliminated by India in the semi-finals.

England’s managing director, Rob Key, explained the decision, saying, "Once you come out of T20 cricket, then you're going into Test cricket very quickly... there's a period there where you can't just throw someone into a Test match. "Rest is probably not the right term but we'll look to make him [Wood] available for selection for the second and third Tests, hopefully."

In the previous match, Gus Atkinson made his Test debut at Lord’s and had an impressive performance, taking 12 wickets for just 16 runs. This achievement marked the fourth-best match figures for a debutant in red-ball cricket history.

Despite the strong win, England remains in ninth place on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table. They have only secured four victories out of 11 matches. Their recent tour of India was disappointing, and they lost 19 points during the Ashes 2023 series, affecting their chances of reaching the WTC final.

Currently, England has 33 points from 11 Tests and needs to achieve significant wins in their upcoming matches to improve their standing in the points table.