England recorded a dominant 10-wicket win in the third Test match against West Indies in Birmingham on Sunday, July 28. Mark Wood took a stunning five-wicket haul to bowl out West Indies to 175 and then Ben Stokes smashed an unbeaten fifty to chase down a target in just 7.2 overs in the second session of Day 3 at Edgbaston.
Starting a Day 3 from 33/2, the West Indies struggled to post a big total despite Mikyle Louis and Kavem Hodge scoring individual fifties each. Wood was sensational in the first session with five wickets while Gus Atkinson rounded his debut series with two wickets for 28.
Chasing an 82-run target, captain Ben Stokes promoted himself to open an innings with Ben Duckett. Stokes single-handedly finished the game by smashing an unbeaten 55 runs off just 28 balls with the help of 10 fours and one six. Stokes took just 24 balls to reach 50 and recorded the fastest-ever fifty in Test cricket history for England.
Mark Wood claimed seven wickets across two innings in the third Test to win the Player of the Match award. The debutant Gus Atkinson clinched the Player of the Series award for taking 22 wickets in six innings, including a five-for in his debut innings at Lord's.
Amazing spell, the rewards he got there were later than he deserved to get them,"Stokes said after the match. "The effort is phenomenal, he's got the heart of a lion and it's exactly what you want as a captain, fast extremely skillful and he blew the game open. Woody knows how much he affects the game from the other end, bowling as fast as he does. He puts pressure on, it might be the other bloke who gets the wickets. That spell this afternoon, it looks like he was going to take a wicket every ball. Showed exactly why we want him in the team as much as possible.
