England playing 11 for West Indies at Edgbaston announced; James Anderson's retirement in vain

England have announced their Playing XI for the 3rd Test match against West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Ben Stokes and his men are looking in brilliant form after having secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

With one more match to go in the series, England will be hoping to complete a clean sweep. Although they have already clinched the Richards-Botham Trophy, they will be eyeing some crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points in this match.

Similarly, West Indies will be playing for pride and will be aiming for a better performance here which will give them confidence for the upcoming home series against South Africa.

England name unchanged Playing XI for the 3rd Test against West Indies at Edgbaston

England have decided to go unchanged for the third Test against West Indies. Despite winning the series, Ben Stokes doesn't seem to disturb his winning combination and has not made any changes in the line-up.

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Harry Brook
6. Ben Stokes (C)
7. Jamie Smith (wk)
8. Chris Woakes
9. Gus Atkinson
10. Mark Wood
11. Shoaib Bashir

England's Playing XI looks strong, especially in home conditions. The batters are in good form with vice-captain Ollie Pope leading the run-scoring charts in the series with 229 runs in three innings at an average of 76.33. Joe Root is second on the list with 204 runs at an average of 68. Harry Brook and Ben Duckett complete the top four while West Indies' highest run-getter Kavem Hodge is fifth on this list.

England will hope Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes return to form

England will hope Zak Crawley to return the runs. Crawley has scored just 79 runs in three innings so far. Even skipper Ben Stokes hasn't been at his best with the bat. Stokes has scored just 81 runs in three innings so far at an average of 27. Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has been impressive with both the bat and the gloves so far.

In the bowling department, fast bowler Gus Atkinson is the leading wicket-taker of the series with 16 wickets in two Tests. 12 out of these 16 wickets came in the first Test. Atkinson had a superb start to his Test career as he picked up a match haul of 12 wickets but had to toil hard in the second Test as West Indies batters showed resilience in the first innings.

Seamer Chris Woakes has been impressive having picked up 7 wickets in two Tests at 21.71 so far. But England's biggest positive was the performance of offspinner Shoaib Bashir, who picked up 5-41 in the second innings at Nottingham. This was the first five-wicket haul on the ground since Muttiah Muralitharan in 2006.

It was expected that fast bowler Mark Wood could be rested for this Test but he has been given a chance. Wood was unlucky not to get many wickets in the Nottingham Test but was impressive.

The third Test will be played from July 26-30. In the WTC rankings, England is sixth with five wins and six defeats while West Indies are last with one win and four defeats.