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England announced their playing XI for the final Test of the three-match series against the West Indies at Edgbaston.
England took an unassailable lead following their thumping 241-run win over the Caribbean side in the second Test in Nottingham. The West Indies have been hunting for their first Test win on English soil since 1988. They will be eager to end their winless streak in the third clash on Friday, even though the series is out of their grasp. England will be keen to complete the whitewash and improve their standing in the World Test Championship table. They moved off the bottom of the WTC standings and kept in touch with the competition. Following the victory, they catapulted past South Africa, Bangladesh and the West Indies into sixth place on the table. After the conclusion of the series, England will host Sri Lanka for three Tests on home soil at the end of next month. After that, the Three Lions will embark on tours of Pakistan in October and New Zealand in November and December. After 12 matches, England have 45 points and a percentage of 31.25. The Ben Stokes-led side has won five games, lost six and drawn one. The West Indies fell to ninth on the standings with a 22.22 percentage following the late fadeout against England at Trent Bridge and have seven Tests remaining this period against England (one), South Africa (two), Bangladesh (two) and Pakistan (two). One of England's decorated batters, Joe Root, is currently on 11,940 Test runs. He is just 14 runs shy of eclipsing West Indies great Brian Lara to become the all-time seventh-highest run scorer in the Test format. England have retained the team from previous match. England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir. (ANI)
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