Anderson, Archer return as England name strong squad for series decider against Windies

England National Cricket Selectors on Thursday announced 14-man strong squad for the third and final Test against the West Indies at the Old Trafford in Manchester, which is scheduled to start on Friday 24.

After missing the second Test for breaching bio-secure protocols, star speedster Jofra Archer finds his way into the squad with James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran among the pacers, giving selection headaches to captain Joe Root. 

Ben Stokes retained his spot in the squad after talks of him getting rested for the series decided surfaced in the build-up to the match. Jos Buttler, despite being completely off-form in the recent times in the longest format of the game, continues to be in the squad and it would be interesting to see whether he gets the nod in the final playing XI. 

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The likes of Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Dom Bess continue be the mainstay of the batting line-up and are expected to start in the Manchester Test.

With all of Anderson, Broad, Archer, Woakes, Curran and Wood named in the squad, Root and head coach Chris Silverwood have been left spoilt for choices. Archer and Wood were pretty inconsistent in the series opener while Woakes and Curran helped England equalize the series and hence the team selection could raise a few eyebrows if the winning combination is tweaked to accommodate either of Anderson, Archer or Wood.  

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England Men’s Test Squad for 3rd Test against West Indies:

Joe Root (Yorkshire) Captain, James Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Dominic Bess (Somerset), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).