England vs West Indies predictions: Brook can star on Anderson's farewell
- England have won 18 of their last 24 home Tests against the West Indies
- James Anderson has taken 700 Test wickets
- Recommended bet: Harry Brook to be named player of the match
England will bid farewell to a legend at Lord's this week as James Anderson plays the 188th and final Test match of his storied international career in the first of three Tests against the West Indies, starting on Wednesday.
Team news
Surrey's Jamie Smith is set to make his Test match debut against the West Indies after Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes were left out of England's squad for the first two Tests.
Shoaib Bashir is the only spinner in the hosts' squad while Matthew Potts, Chris Woakes and potential debutants Dillon Pennington and Gus Atkinson are vying to join the returning James Anderson in England's pace unit.
West Indies stalwart Kemar Roach has pulled out of the tour due to injury so Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales look set to start as the tourists' three pace bowlers.
Kavem Hodge scored a century in the Windies' warm-up game against a First-Class Counties XI and may take up a place in the middle order.
The stats
England have dominated against the West Indies on home turf since the turn of the millennium, winning 18 and losing just three of 24 Tests
James Anderson will play his 188th and final Test match at Lord's, hoping to add to his 700 Test victims — the most of any pace bowler to play the game
Only the legendary Don Bradman has a higher Test batting average than England's Harry Brook, who is averaging 62.15 after 12 matches and 20 innings for his country in the five-day arena.
Prediction
Having watched long-time new-ball partner Stuart Broad walk off into the sunset at the end of last year's Ashes, Lord's will celebrate the career of James Anderson this week.
Anderson became the first pace bowler to reach 700 wickets against India in March and he will end his career second on the all-time list should he claim nine wickets on his swansong.
The 41-year-old warmed up for the series with 7-35 for Lancashire last week and with grey skies forecast for much of the first Test, the undoubted king of swing may be licking his lips at one last hurrah.
That said, for all his brilliance Anderson has averaged just over two wickets per Test in his previous eight five-day outings so it may pay for customers not to get too sentimental.
Batting at five, Harry Brook did not get too many opportunities to impose himself at the T20 World Cup but when he did he showed he was in decent nick, scoring 145 runs in four innings.
Brook has made an outstanding start to his Test career, scoring 1,181 runs in 12 matches including seven fifties and four hundreds.
The Yorkshire batter has scored two centuries and 388 runs at an average approaching 80 for his county this season and could play a star turn at Lord's.
