West Indies and England licking wounds ahead of Test series
NORTH SOUND (Antigua and Barbuda): West Indies and England initiate the rebuilding process from the rubble of disastrous campaigns when their three-match Test series begins on Tuesday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. The visitors' 4-0 thrashing in the latest Ashes contest and a record-equalling nine defeats in the last calendar year have pushed England into sweeping changes. The Caribbean side are contending with yet another Test slump in which a 2-0 series reversal in Sri Lanka at the end of 2021 left them with a record of five losses in their last six matches. Desperate to distance themselves from the soul-destroying experience Down Under, the English side taking the field in Antigua is set to show at least six changes, including debutant opener Alex Lees, from their final capitulation in Hobart eight weeks earlier. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, the celebrated swing and seam bowling tandem who are the country's highest-ever wicket-takers in Tests, were sensationally omitted from this touring party.
