Root eyes Ashes triumph after Windies win

LONDON: Joe Root believes England have the capacity to do “something special” by retaining the Ashes in Australia, after they wrapped up a 2-1 Test series victory against West Indies at Lord’s on Saturday.

A nine-wicket win inside three days at the ‘home of cricket’ meant England had won both of Root’s first two series as captain following a preceding 3-1 home triumph over South Africa.

Saturday’s success was effectively sealed by James Anderson taking his Test-best figures after all-rounder Ben Stokes starred with both ball and bat.

Having become the first Englishman and only sixth bowler to reach the milestone of 500 Test wickets on Friday, Anderson went on to record innings figures of seven for 42 in a West Indies total of 177 all out.

That left England requiring a mere 107 to win, with an unbroken partnership of 72 between Mark Stoneman and Tom Westley completing a comprehensive victory.

This was England’s last Test before they begin the defence of the Ashes in Brisbane in November.

A series win in Australia would see star batsman Root join a select group of post-World War II England captains — Len Hutton, Ray Illingworth, Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting and Andrew Strauss — to have led a side to Ashes glory Down Under.

England, though, suffered second-Test defeats in both the South Africa and West Indies series.

Anderson, who starred in a 3-1 Ashes win in Australia in 2011/11, has long been regarded as ideally suited to swing-friendly English conditions and had an outstanding season with the 35-year-old Lancashire paceman taking 39 wickets in just seven Tests.

For West Indies, whose attention now turns to the limitedovers leg of their tour, the highlight of the Test series was a fivewicket win at Headingley that squared things up at 1-1 just days after they had suffered an innings thrashing at Edgbaston.

The Headingley match featured twin hundreds from Shai Hope — his first centuries in Test cricket — and the 23-yearold underlined his promise with two more impressive innings in difficult conditions at Lord’s. AFP