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Wednesday's series opener against West Indies will be Ben Stokes' 25th Test as England captain

England begin the home summer against West Indies on Wednesday and have handed debuts to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, pace bowler Gus Atkinson and preferred 20-year-old Shoaib Bashir to previous first-choice spinner Jack Leach.

Most importantly, the Test at Lord’s will be the final international match for England’s all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson.

“We had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that Ashes series,” Stokes told BBC Sport.

“We want to go out there and we want to get that urn back.”

The next Ashes series is in Australia in the winter of 2025-26. Australia have held the urn since 2018, retaining cricket’s oldest prize with a 2-2 draw in the UK last summer.

The fallout from that series has continued over the past year, fuelled by two documentary series that focussed on the respective teams.

England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.

West Indies XI: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua da Silva (wk), Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales.

India have appointed former opening batter Gautam Gambhir as their new head coach