BIRMINGHAM: Ben Stokes hit the fastest Test fifty by an England batsman as the hosts hammered the West Indies by 10 wickets to win the third Test at Edgbaston on Sunday.
Set 82 to win, England finished on 87-0 in a mere 7.2 overs as they completed a 3-0 series whitewash of the West Indies in spectacular style and with more than two days to spare.
England captain Stokes, opening in place of the injured Zak Crawley, needed just 24 balls to go to a fifty featuring nine fours and a six.
He bettered the previous record quickest Test-match fifty by an England batsman of 28 balls set by Ian Botham against India at Delhi back in 1981.
Stokes then ended the match by pulling West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s part-time spin for six to finish 57 not out.
Earlier, express fast bowler Mark Wood polished off the tail with a superb spell of 5-9 in six overs to finish with 5-40 in 14 as the West Indies were dismissed for 175 in their second innings.
West Indies opener Mikyle Louis, whose 57 was his maiden Test fifty, and Kavem Hodge (55) offered some resistance but the next highest score in the innings was 12 — a total shared by Alick Athanaze, Jason Holder and extras.
The tourists resumed on 33-2, still 61 runs behind an England first-innings 376, where Jamie Smith fell agonizingly short of a maiden Test century in making 95 while further fifties from Joe Root (87), Chris Woakes (62) and Stokes (54) helped the hosts recover from a collapse to 54-5.
Louis was 18 not out overnight, after being dropped by Stokes on nine, and Athanaze five not out.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir and Wood opened the bowling after the pair had teamed up to good effect during England’s 241-run win in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Athanaze was soon lbw for 12 to the 20-year-old Bashir after missing a sweep.
But the West Indies did avoid the embarrassment of a second innings defeat in three Tests following an innings and 114-run loss in the series opener at Lord’s.
Louis, who only made his debut in that match, completed a maiden Test fifty in style when he slog-swept Bashir for six before he cleared the ropes again off the spinner.
But the 23-year-old fell soon afterwards when paceman Stokes drew him into edging a full-length ball to second slip.
Hodge, who made his maiden Test century at Trent Bridge, went to fifty in just 56 balls, including seven fours.
But the West Indies, 151-5 at lunch, folded tamely as Wood ripped through the lower order.
Joshua Da Silva was plumb lbw before Alzarri Joseph had his stumps demolished by Wood after missing a drive.
Wood then roughed up opposing quick Jayden Seales with a bouncer before bowling him next ball for a duck with a fuller-length delivery — a classic one-two trick.
And the 34-year-old Wood, unlucky to take just two wickets in the whole of the second Test, ended the innings when he had Shamar Joseph well caught at second slip by Durham team-mate Stokes.
That might have been the end of Stokes’s involvement in normal circumstances but Crawley’s finger injury, suffered while dropping a slip catch earlier Sunday, was the cue for the left-handed batsman’s blistering assault.
Stokes thumped from Alzarri Joseph for fours through cover-point and deep square leg off successive balls in the first over of the chase, with the fast bowler conceding 23 runs in his opening two overs.
He then drove Jayden Seales on the up for four and struck Jason Holder back over the towering all-rounder’s head for yet another boundary to the delight of a capacity, sun-drenched crowd.
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Quickfire Stokes wraps up England whitewash of the West Indies
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Quickfire Stokes wraps up England whitewash of the West Indies
- Set 82 to win, England finished on 87-0 in a mere 7.2 overs as they completed a 3-0 series whitewash of the West Indies
- Stokes bettered previous record quickest Test-match fifty by an England batsman of 28 balls set by Ian Botham against India
Aston Martin says its car risks giving drivers ‘nerve damage’ and can’t finish F1 season-opener
- Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage
MELBOURNE: Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage.
Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team’s Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added.
Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.
“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey.
“Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.
“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.
“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”
Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.
He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.
Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.
“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.
“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short.
“Since (pre-season testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”
Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival; Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.
But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.
Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team’s Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added.
Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.
“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey.
“Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.
“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.
“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”
Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.
He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.
Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.
“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.
“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short.
“Since (pre-season testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”
Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival; Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.
But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.
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