Stuart Broad not playing today’s first Test: England have left out their veteran seamer for the first Test match of the summer.
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England haven’t included veteran seamer Stuart Broad in their Playing XI for the first Test of West Indies’ tour of England in Southampton today. While there were murmurs of the move happening on the eve of the match, a final announcement was still awaited.
The development means that another veteran seamer James Anderson won’t open the bowling with his tried and tested bowling partner in Broad.
Broad, 34, had last missed a home Test during West Indies’ tour of England in 2012 at Edgbaston. Since then, the right-arm bowler has played a stellar 51 consecutive home Test matches.
Stuart Broad not playing today’s first Test
Standing in for regular captain Joe Root, Ben Stokes made the announcement regarding Broad’s omission during the toss. It was Stokes who won the toss and has elected to bat in his first Test as captain.
“Not going to have too much pace in it and in recent times spins come into it. Very tough [conversation], but Stuart [Broad] took it as an absolute champion,” Stokes was quoted as saying during the toss.
Fast bowler Mark Wood, who was unsure of a spot in the Playing XI for this match, has been included into the XI in Broad’s place on the back of picking 12 wickets in two Tests at an average of 13.58 and a strike rate of 29.2 during the tour of South Africa earlier this year. The desire of playing two outright fast bowlers in Jofra Archer and Wood made it impossible for the hosts to accommodate Broad.
Talking about the visitors, captain Jason Holder informed during the toss that his team will play with four fast bowling options in addition to all-rounder Roston Chase which means that spinner Rahkeem Cornwall will warm the bench in this match.
England Playing XI – 1) Rory Burns 2) Dom Sibley 3) Joe Denly 4) Zak Crawley 5) Ben Stokes (c) 6) Ollie Pope 7) Jos Buttler (wk) 8) Dom Bess 9) Jofra Archer 10) Mark Wood 11) James Anderson
West Indies Playing XI – 1) John Campbell 2) Kraigg Brathwaite 3) Shamarh Brooks 4) Shai Hope) 5) Roston Chase 6) Jermaine Blackwood 7) Shane Dowrich (wk) 8) Jason Holder (c) 9) Alzarri Joseph 10) Kemar Roach 11) Shannon Gabriel
