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ScorecardMichael Neser returned career-best List A figures of 4 for 41 to extend Queensland’s unbeaten run•Getty Images

Queensland maintained an unbeaten run towards the knockout stages of the Matador Cup with a dominant victory over South Australia at the WACA Ground.The Bulls’ win was founded on a disciplined display on the field, restricting the Redbacks to a mere 9 for 199 from 50 overs, with no SA batsman able to pass 50.Michael Neser was central to Queensland’s ascendancy, claiming four wickets, including those of Callum Ferguson, the SA captain, and Tom Cooper in the same over.Others also played their role, not least Jason Floros, the Queensland captain, and Mitchell Swepson, the 23-year old legspinner, who were parsimonious, and had combined figures of 2 for 65 in 19 overs.Queensland’s chase had plenty of momentum throughout, meaning the Redbacks could never apply much pressure even though Kane Richardson and Cameron Valente were able to share five wickets between them.Marnus Labuschagne made the only half-century of the match, his well-struck 73 taking the Bulls home in the company of Floros, who has excelled thus far as a new captain.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s captain, and his team-mate Sabbir Rahman have been fined 20 percent of their match fees by the ICC, following their role in the on-field row with Jos Buttler, England’s one-day captain, that marred the second one-day international against Bangladesh on Sunday.Buttler, who received an official reprimand for his own actions, reacted angrily to provocation from Bangladesh’s fielders after being given out for 57, via a third-umpire review, during England’s 34-run defeat at Mirpur.All three players admitted the offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by the ICC match referee, Javagal Srinath, meaning there was no need for a formal hearing.”The Bangladesh players overstepped in their celebration of Jos Buttler’s wicket, which prompted an inappropriate reaction from the dismissed batsman and required the on-field umpires’ intervention,” said Srinath. “We all want to see high intensity on the field of play, but only as long as it is not provoking or antagonising or disrespecting the opponent.”The Bangladesh players were found to have violated article 2.1.7 of the ICC code of conduct which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an international match”.Buttler was found in breach of article 2.1.4, “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match”.All three players pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions, which also include one demerit point being added to the disciplinary records of each player.If any of the trio are given four demerit points within the next two years then that will be converted into at least two suspension points which carry a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20 internationals, depending on the fixture schedule.While it was a first offence for the two captains, Sabbir now has three demerit points on his record after being given his first two for breaching the ICC’s code of conduct against Afghanistan last month.Buttler’s run-a-ball 57 had given England renewed hope of sealing the series win after slumping to 26 for 4, but his dismissal left them 123 for 7 and facing near-certain defeat.”I was just a little bit disappointed in the fashion they celebrated,” he said afterwards. “Mainly just the way they celebrated by running towards me and giving me a bit of a send-off.”You don’t have to run up to a guy. I’m disappointed to get out, but emotions were running high, they were obviously delighted to get the wicket, maybe I should have just walked away.”There has, as yet, been no ICC investigation into another flashpoint at the end of the match – as raised by Ben Stokes on Twitter, and reportedly involving Tamim Iqbal and Jonny Bairstow.”Congrats to Bangladesh on the win tonight,” Stokes tweeted. “Outplayed us, what I won’t stand for is someone putting a shoulder to my teammate at handshakes.”

The BCCI has doubled the India players’ Test-match fees, with an eye on making the format more financially attractive. India’s players currently get INR 7 lakh (USD 10,500 approx) per Test; the board decided to increase that to INR 15 lakh (USD 22,500 approx) per game. The reserve players’ fees have reportedly also been doubled to Rs 7 lakh per game.”We have doubled the match fees as we think Test cricket has to be given priority,” BCCI president Anurag Thakur told . “We have had discussions to make Test cricket popular and lucrative among the new generation. If we need to keep the players’ interest in Tests alive, we’ll have to ensure that Test players are better paid. We can’t shy away from the trend [of being attracted to well-paying T20 leagues] that we are witnessing among new cricketers.”The decision was taken at an unscheduled working committee meeting in Mumbai on Friday, which preceded the BCCI’s special general meeting, where the board could not come to a decision with regard to implementing the recommendations of the Lodha Committee. It remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will roll back this decision on the match fees, considering the Lodha Committee had asked the BCCI to put on hold any decision concerning 2016-17 till the recommendations on restructuring the board were in place.

Uncapped players Joshua Little and Lorcan Tucker have been included in Ireland’s 13-man squad for two T20Is against Hong Kong in September. In a bid to swap experience for youth, Ireland brought in Greg Thompson, James Shannon, Sean Terry and David Rankin, while leaving out Paul Stirling, Niall O’Brien, Tim Murtagh, Stuart Poynter and Gary Wilson.Left-arm fast bowler Little and wicketkeeper Tucker earned their spots after impressive performances in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year. Little picked up four wickets in five matches in that tournament, including 3 for 52 against eventual runners-up India in their first game. Tucker was Ireland’s top run-scorer in the competition, with 222 runs in six games at an average of 44.40.”We wanted to bring some freshness to the squad,” chairman of selectors Alan Lewis said. “Left-arm quicks have been hugely successful in T20s and Josh’s introduction will drive his career forward, we hope. He bowls with pace and is an excellent athlete.”Lorcan’s ability to score all around the ground with his 360-degree game – as witnessed at the U19 World Cup – coupled with his wicketkeeping gives us excellent balance.”Allrounder Thompson, who was Ireland’s youngest player at 16, last played an international game in 2008, but was recalled after stellar performances in the domestic circuit this year.”Clearing the ropes and strike rates which are vital in this format have proved difficult for us recently but we hope with the re-introduction of the quartet, added to our experience that we can build a new identity to the way we play,” Lewis said.Ireland are scheduled to host Hong Kong for two T20Is in Bready on September 5 and 6.Ireland squad: William Porterfield (capt), Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, David Rankin, James Shannon, Sean Terry, Greg Thompson, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Craig Young

Scorecard2:23

‘I’m slowly returning to Test match mode’ – Jadeja

The Indian spinners made up for the absence of fast bowlers Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav – all rested – by dismissing WICB President’s XI for 180 on the opening day of their three-day fixture at Warner Park in Basseterre.They accounted for eight wickets, with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picking up three apiece. Amit Mishra claimed 2 for 45. The hosts then struck three blows in the final session, with the day drawing to a close after the fall of Cheteshwar Pujara’s wicket for 28. The Indians were 93 for 3, with KL Rahul unbeaten on 30.Rahkeem Cornwall, the Leeward Islands batsman, top scored with 41, even as Jadeja triggered a slide that resulted in the hosts slipping from 81 for 3 to 119 for 6. Jermaine Blackwood, named in West Indies’ squad of 13 for the first Test in Antigua, was the second-highest scorer with 36, while opener John Campbell made 34.”We didn’t do our talent any justice by getting bowled out for 180,” Leon Johnson, the WICB President’s XI captain, said after the day’s play. “The pitch was two paced, there was some moisture in it early on. John (Campbell) played exceptionally well this morning until a rush of blood against Ashwin. He showed good composure, while Cornwall was his usual self, but overall we could have batted better.”Fast bowler Shardul Thakur, one of four changes in the Indian XI – Stuart Binny, Ashwin and Jadeja being the others – dismissed Johnson in the eighth over after the hosts chose to bat. Campbell was the next to go when he was deceived in flight by Ashwin to be stumped by Wriddhiman Saha, and Binny removed Shai Hope, the centurion from the first tour game last week, shortly before lunch.Jadeja picked up three wickets in the second session to leave the hosts precariously placed. The tailenders hung around for 8.3 overs, adding 37 for the last two wickets, before Ashwin wrapped up the innings in the 63rd over.”I’m playing the longer format after a long time. Match fitness is important, and I wanted to bowl a long spell,” Jadeja said after the day’s play. “The way I was bowling, I felt I was getting into Test match mode. I didn’t want to experiment. There was slow turn and bounce, so I just wanted to land the ball in the right areas. Our bowling plan as a group was to eliminate the boundary ball, and not give away easy singles.”Jadeja was confident of India’s spin trio delivering irrespective of conditions. “All three of us have different styles and we bowl at different speeds, so that’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s tough for the batsmen to judge because we also bowl different lengths. West Indies will find it tough if tracks offer turn. We’ve done well at home together, so the plan will be to continue the same should we all play in the XI.”Dawes and Chemar Holder, a member of West Indies’ Under-19 World Cup winning squad earlier this year, removed Shikhar Dhawan (9) and M Vijay (23) in consecutive overs after the openers saw off 10 overs. Pujara then contributed 28 in a 59-run stand before falling to Cornwall’s off-spin in the dying moments of play.

Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine were controversial inclusions in West Indies’ squad for the ODI tri-series. They had not played international cricket since November 2015, and did not take part in West Indies’ domestic 50-over competition, which was considered to be one of the WICB’s criteria for selection.The two of them, however, proved the match-winners in the opening game of the tournament, with Narine’s 6 for 27, the best ODI figures by a West Indies spinner, helping bowl South Africa out for 188 and Pollard’s unbeaten, run-a-ball 67 sealing a four-wicket win.Phil Simmons, West Indies’ head coach, praised the pair’s contributions, highlighting Narine’s effort to bounce back from a difficult period, in which he has remodeled his bowling action after it was found to be illegal.”They are the two guys who took the game away from South Africa, and it showed that they’re very important to our cricket,” Simmons said. “Narine himself, coming back from everything he’s been through, to come and perform the way he did today, you have to give him a lot of kudos for his grit and his determination, to come out of where he’s been and to come back and perform like this.”Pollard showed his ball-striking ability by hitting six sixes, but waited for the right moments to play his big shots on a sluggish pitch. West Indies were a slightly shaky 76 for 4 when he walked in and took over.”Pollard’s experience showed there,” Simmons said “His ability to hit the ball but also his experience to guide young [Darren] Bravo and so on through the end. [It] showed in [South Africa’s] innings too, [AB] de Villiers guiding [Rilee] Rossouw. And also, I think we came out and [showed] a little bit more grit and a little bit more determination today.”Simmons was heartened by what he felt was an improved fielding display from his side.”I think, again, the bowling has been fantastic and the fielding is getting to where I would like to see, it’s improving all the time,” he said. “Everybody knows that we can bowl and we can bat, but the fielding in particular has been improving and that has helped in us keeping teams to low scores.”

Australia batsman Adam Voges has backed the idea of allowing substitute fielders for players who may be suffering a concussion as a result of a head injury on the field of play. His comments came as he recounted how his freak head injury during a recent County Championship match between Hampshire and Middlesex had left him feeling like he had a “hangover” for 10 days thereafter.”The fact that you get pulled out of the game immediately and you don’t have any say in that, is one factor in it,” Voges said. “I understand the argument that, if you allow a sub for concussion, why wouldn’t you allow a sub for other injuries. It could be a bit of a grey area. I understand that. But I am in favour of the sub rule.”Voges had been struck at the back of his head, while fielding, by a ball thrown back towards the wicketkeeper after Hampshire batsman Michael Carberry had hit a boundary. Voges fell to the ground immediately, before being helped off the field by two physios and taken to hospital with a suspected concussion.”I was standing at slip, just contemplating a fielding change, or a bowling change, I can’t quite remember,” he recalled. “I didn’t really pay attention to where the ball had gone or when it was coming back. It wasn’t until very late that the keeper realised the ball was going over his head and it hit me straight in the back of the head. It was just a freak accident really.”This was the first time Voges had been forced from the field due to a head injury. Though he was hospitalised only briefly, he said that he felt groggy and unwell for several days after the incident.”I was a bit groggy for a week, week and a half after that and missed the next game,” Voges said. “It was probably my first experience with it. It felt like I was waking up with a hangover. It wasn’t until 10 days after it that I started to feel right again.”In May, Cricket Australia had proposed trialling the concussion subs idea for two years in domestic first-class cricket, but the ICC cricket committee, which met in early June, argued that “the current laws and playing conditions allow players to receive the best possible medical treatment and further change to the regulations in this area is not required at present”.

Durham 104 for 5 (Windsor 36*) beat Hampshire 103 for 7 (Southby 25, Turner 3-17) by five wicketsDurham Women gave their slim chances of making the Vitality Blast Finals Day a timely boost with a bonus point win over Hampshire Hawks, with the five-wicket defeat ending the visitors’ own chances of qualifying.It was the host’s bowlers who put them in charge at a sun-kissed Banks Homes Riverside with seamer Phoebe Turner taking three wickets in the 12th over to turn the game Durham’s way before restricting the hosts to just 103 for 7 from their 20 overs.After winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Hawks made a decent start in reaching 30 without the loss of a wicket off four overs, with Australia star Ellyse Perry looking dangerous. But when Perry was caught at cover by Katherine Fraser in Mady Villiers’ first over for 23 off 16 balls it triggered a collapse that saw the Hawks lose five wickets for 28 runs as Durham blew away the southern outfit’s middle order.Turner was executioner in chief, removing skipper Georgia Adams for 4, opener Rhianna Southy for 25 and Naomi Dattani for 1 in a devastating over.Turner was supported by the legspin of Katie Levik who finished with 1 for 11 off her four tight overs and Villiers who took for 2 for 23.Only a seventh-wicket partnership of 35 saved the Hawks’ blushes with Freya Davies’ unbeaten 20 and 12 from Mary Taylor adding some much-needed gloss to a lethargic batting performance.New Zealand legend Suzie Bates got Durham off to a flyer but they were pegged back in the third over when Daisy Gibb had Emma Marlow caught behind without scoring.The battle of the Antipodean stars then proved a relishing prospect with Bates hitting Perry’s first ball for a boundary before the Australian had the last laugh when the batter edged her sixth ball behind to leave Durham 35 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.With Villiers brilliantly caught in the deep by Kemp off a Bex Tyson full toss for 14 the home side’s nerves were kicking in and they only increased when Bess Heath was bowled by Adams for 1 to leave Durham 49 for 4.It was left to skipper Hollie Armitage and Emily Windsor to steady the ship with three consecutive boundaries from Windsor off Adams’ 12th over proving a crucial turning point in the run chase.Armitage fell caught and bowled by Davies for 17 but the 40 run partnership for the fifth wicket meant Durham needed just 15 runs to win with Windsor finishing unbeaten on 36 off 23 balls to seal the win in the 16th over.

Josh de Caires struck his highest first-class score, to put Middlesex in a strong position at the end of day three of this Rothesay County Championship match at Wantage Road. Playing his first game of the season, de Caires, who has batted at No. 7 for the last couple of years as a spinning allrounder, shared an opening stand of 89 with Sam Robson, the Seaxes finishing the day on 215 for 3, a lead of 193.De Caires’ 87, from 144 balls with 12 fours, helped wrestle back the initiative for Middlesex after allrounder Justin Broad hit 70 (81 balls, 10 fours) and combined with Lloyd Pope in a record 10th wicket partnership for Northamptonshire against Middlesex to earn a slender first-innings lead.Broad and Pope’s heroics came after Ryan Higgins’ hat-trick spearheaded a Northamptonshire batting collapse in the morning session. From a dominant 342 for 5, the hosts lost four wickets for eight runs in just 4.2 overs after Saif Zaib posted an excellent 102, his fourth century of the summer (170 balls, 13 fours), the first Northamptonshire batter since Ben Duckett in 2016 to reach that milestone.Higgins finished with figures of 3 for 48 while spinner Zafar Gohar took a further wicket to complete a five-for.Resuming on 308 for 5, Zaib and Lewis McManus looked to extend their defiant partnership which already extended into three figures.Zaib’s progress through the 90s was eased when sub-fielder Stevie Eskinazi’s misfield gifted him a boundary. He reached three figures by bottom-edging an attempted reverse sweep past the keeper for four, but the shot proved his undoing later in the over when he picked out de Caires who took a stunning flying catch at backward point off Gohar.That set in motion Northamptonshire’s collapse, as Higgins, employing a short-pitched tactic, had McManus fending a leg-side bouncer to the keeper with the final ball of the 103rd over. He struck again with the first two balls of his next over to complete his hattrick. Rob Keogh moved across his stumps and was bowled around his legs while Liam Guthrie upper cut a short ball straight to point.Broad was proactive from the outset, employing the sweep and reverse sweep against the spinners and muscling Gohar through midwicket.With Pope providing solid support, Broad cut Gohar for four to bring up the 50 partnership and take Northamptonshire to 400. He pulled Toby Roland-Jones to the ropes, but the Middlesex captain couldn’t hold onto a difficult diving chance at midwicket, the ball going for four to bring up Broad’s half-century.Middlesex targeted Pope with the short ball, but he was content to duck under the bouncers and take runs off the spinners and give Broad the bulk of the strike.Broad duly wiped out the deficit and took Northamptonshire into the lead just before the delayed lunch interval before falling shortly after the resumption when he stepped away to a Robson delivery which turned and hit leg-stump.With the bat, Robson took three boundaries off Northamptonshire’s seamers but the hosts soon turned to the spinners.While he bowled the occasional half-tracker which Middlesex punished, Pope obtained some sharp turn and bounce out of the foot holes, flighting the ball and finding some drift.Calvin Harrison bowled tidily, conceding just one boundary in his first five overs. He posed some tough questions for both batters, beating Robson’s outside edge before de Caires failed to pick the wrong’un as Harrison found some sharp bounce off a good length ball. He struck with another wrong’un soon afterwards, trapping Robson lbw as he moved across his stumps.De Caires drove Keogh both sides of the wicket off consecutive balls and slog swept Keogh before taking a single off Harrison on the cusp of tea to bring up his half-century off 84 balls.After the break, de Caires was harsh on anything loose from the spinners, pulling anything short to the boundary as well as sweeping sweetly.With de Caires and Max Holden extending their partnership to 65, Northamptonshire turned to Guthrie who made the breakthrough almost instantly, bowling a bouncer which lifted sharply to de Caires who could only fend to second slip.Max Holden (and Leus du Plooy then added a brisk 48 together. Du Plooy punched Guthrie off the back foot to get off the mark and whipped Harrison through midwicket, while Holden dispatched Keogh back over his head.Holden continued to accelerate, sweeping Harrison over midwicket and coming down the wicket next ball to power him over long-on.du Plooy’s departure came via a bizarre dismissal in the closing overs. Caught in two minds, he seemed to be considering whether to reverse sweep or the run the ball down to third man but instead guided the ball straight to the keeper.The day ended tantalisingly poised with Middlesex considering when best to time their day four declaration.

Big picture: Anderson enters the end-game

It’s been an emotional week already for the grand old men of British sport. At Wimbledon on Thursday, Andy Murray unleashed the waterworks as he bade farewell to Centre Court, with a final acceptance that his flesh was now too weak to sustain his indomitable spirit.By contrast, that same afternoon at Saint Vulbas, and then at Silverstone three days after that, Mark Cavendish and Lewis Hamilton proved what a champion’s mindset can still achieve when the fates finally decree that you have suffered purgatory for long enough.Related

• Atkinson upstages Anderson with seven-for as England dominate

• Strauss: Next Ashes 'too far' for Anderson (but he should receive a knighthood)

• Stokes: England must build a team that can win in Australia

• Stokes' brave calls and bowling return herald start of England's evolution

• From haircuts to sledging – Anderson's other 'highlights'

And now, we roll through to Lord’s on Wednesday, where another immoveable constant of the British sporting summer will begin his own five-day farewell. As with each of the three men mentioned above, James Anderson has never known when to quit, and were it not for the march of time, he’d have no reason to do so. “I’ve not really got a choice, have I?” he demurred, when asked if he was at peace with the decision to pension him off after this, his 188th Test – even after last week’s stellar haul of 7 for 35 for Lancashire at Southport.But, as Anderson himself might remember from the circumstances of his own England debut – on this very ground 21 years and a handful of weeks ago – international sport has, at some point, to return to being a young man’s game. Back then, it was Andrew Caddick who never played for his country again, even after claiming ten wickets in England’s previous Test at Sydney in January 2003. If opportunity doesn’t knock at some point for a new generation, then stagnation and frustration become the only true measures of progress.That’s not quite where England find themselves after a torrid winter tour of India. But, in the wake of their 2-2 Ashes draw and a careless share of the spoils in New Zealand in February, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum find themselves in unusually urgent need of a series win – a strange state of affairs for a team whose initial success was largely down to their disregard for the end-game.James Anderson and Ben Stokes in their Test whites•PA Photos/Getty Images

Hence their changing of the guard, with Bazball’s original pin-up, Jonny Bairstow, being forced to bow to the reality of his fading returns, and Ben Foakes dispatched for his inability to hit the top-notes of aggression that the team ethos demands. Stuart Broad has also sauntered off the stage, 12 months yet only one home Test ago, meaning that the future will be upon this England team almost before it has had time to take stock.What can West Indies do to knock that future off its stride? Potentially, more than many other teams might muster. For if England’s approach, in essence, has been about an overdose of good vibes, then they are coming up against a team with a proven ability to raise their own game against these particular opponents.As the current holders of the Richards-Botham Trophy, West Indies have not lost a home series to England in two decades and counting, and if the challenge that awaits them in inclement English weather is likely to be somewhat tougher, then they come armed with a core of significant senior campaigners, not least among them the returning former captain Jason Holder, and a fast-bowling contingent that would be the envy of many of their Test opponents.Either way, West Indies are not letting the sentiment of the occasion deflect them from their mission, with more than one player expressing their intention to “ruin” Anderson’s farewell. Hopefully the weather doesn’t get there first in the course of an unsettled forecast for the week ahead. There’ll be enough moisture doing the rounds at Lord’s by the time he’s bowled his last.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Form guide

England LLLLW (last five Tests, most recent first)
West Indies WLDLL

In the spotlight: Gus Atkinson and Shamar Joseph

Yeah, yeah, so there’s really only one fast bowler on anyone’s lips right now, but seeing as Anderson loathes the spotlight, it makes sense to pass it over to two of the newest kids on the Test block.Gus Atkinson has been England’s coming man for the best part of a year already, but after drinks-carrying roles on two senior tours of India – before Christmas for that dismal World Cup campaign and after Christmas for a marginally less dispiriting 4-1 Test defeat – Lord’s will serve as the grand unveiling of a quick who has got a lot of informed onlookers very excited indeed. Over and above his smooth attributes as a 90mph fast bowler, Atkinson’s appetite for the big stage would appear to mark him out. His best displays to date have come when there’s been the most to prove, not least a high-octane duel with Jos Buttler in last year’s Hundred. Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts are waiting in the wings for when Anderson has bowled his last, but Atkinson has been handed first dibs of the new era.Shamar Joseph prepares to bowl in the nets•Getty Images

If Atkinson can make half the impact that Shamar Joseph managed in his maiden Test series, then England will have been extraordinarily well served. After five wickets on debut in a spirited personal display in Adelaide, no performance of recent vintage came close to matching the raw, rapid raucousness with which Joseph followed up in Brisbane, as Australia were scattered to the four corners of their former fortress at the Gabba. His figures of 7 for 68 in 11.5 brutally direct overs were capped by the flattening of Josh Hazlewood’s off stump and a victory gallop for the ages. It’ll be a different level of expectation now, of course – and a wicketless one-off appearance for Lucknow in this year’s IPL was early evidence that his spells won’t all be as straightforwardly joyous. Nevertheless, he arrives as a serious prong in a serious pace attack, and England will be forewarned.

Team news: England ring the changes

No Bairstow, no Foakes, no Tom Hartley, no Mark Wood. Only two of those names are likely to feature again for England as Bazball 2.0 prepares to be unleashed. Instead, re-enter Harry Brook at No. 5, back in situ after missing the India tour due to the death of his grandmother, and welcome aboard the Surrey pairing of Atkinson and Jamie Smith, whose credentials have been bigged up ever since Rob Key witnessed his astonishingly rapid hundred for England Lions in Sri Lanka two winters ago. He does not keep wicket for his county – awkwardly, the man he has replaced has that honour. But then, neither does Shoaib Bashir command a first-team place at Somerset. England are more excited about the ceiling of such players’ potentials, rather than the facts of their current professional status. Mind you, the opposite holds true for the returning Chris Woakes, the reigning Compton-Miller medallist after his heroics in last summer’s Ashes. He’s no more a long-term pick than Anderson, but he does command an average of 11.33 in five previous Tests at Lord’s. Seeing as England haven’t won a full series since 2022, getting that W on the board is still a priority.England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Shoaib Bashir, 11 James AndersonThe sad absence of Kemar Roach, who sustained a knee injury on county duty with Surrey, hasn’t dented the quiet self-belief of a West Indies team that may prove to be overly reliant on Kraigg Brathwaite’s obduracy at the top, but certainly possess more than enough bowling tools to give Stokes’ batters a serious run for their money. The challenge, as so often in recent encounters, comes in the batting. With Mikyle Louis confirmed for a debut at the top of the order – the first player from St Kitts to win a Test cap for West Indies – four of the top six will have played nine Tests between them. Gudakesh Motie has edged out Kevin Sinclair for the solitary spinner’s berth, with Motie’s recent success against England’s batters in white-ball cricket potentially the clincher.Kraigg Brathwaite looks on during West Indies practice•Getty Images

West Indies 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Mikyle Louis, 3 Kirk McKenzie, 4 Alick Athanaze, 5 Kavem Hodge, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua da Silva (wk), 8 Gudakesh Motie, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Shamar Joseph, 11 Jayden Seales.

Pitch and conditions: Cold and damp is the order of the day

The weather promises to be cold, intermittently showery and distinctly underwhelming. All of which augurs pretty well for the quick bowlers on display, given the old cliché of Lord’s being a venue where you look up, not down. Even by the old ground’s flat-decked reputation, however, this season has been taking the Michael – as Glamorgan’s Sam Northeast can attest after overhauling Graham Gooch’s legendary 333 in April, the previous highest score ever made in NW8. Jayden Seales had a similarly brutal run-out for Sussex against Middlesex at Lord’s in May, when a total of 18 wickets fell in four days.

Stats and trivia: Anderson eyeing his final place in history

• Anderson, currently on 700 Test wickets, needs nine in the match to overhaul Shane Warne’s mark of 708, and move into second place on the all-time Test wicket-taker’s list, behind Muthiah Muralidaran (800).
• Stokes, who is expected to be back to full bowling fitness after undergoing knee surgery in November, needs two more wickets to reach 200 in Tests, after spending 17 Tests and nigh on two years in the 190s.
• Joshua da Silva, West Indies’ keeper, needs eight more runs to reach 1000 in Tests.
• Despite being the current holders of the Richards-Botham Trophy, West Indies have lost each of their last seven Test series in England, dating back to 2000, and have not won a series in the country since 1988.
• In the past decade, however, the rivalry has been especially intense at home and away. Since 2015, both teams have won six and lost six out of 15 matches, with a win apiece on their last two visits to England in 2017 and 2020.

Quotes

“This week will all be about Jimmy, and rightly so. But I can tell you that his main focus is about going out there, taking wickets and trying to win this game for England. I’m sure when we’re done here this week, that’s when everything else will take over. But he’s desperate to go out there and put in a winning performance for England.”
Ben Stokes on Anderson’s swansong“It’s a young group, especially the batsmen, they have a lot of time to learn because obviously playing Test cricket it takes a while to really understand. You’re always learning on the job, but it’s a very decent team, for sure.”