England will get their first taste of a day-night Test when they take on the West Indies at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday for the first of the three-match series.
Joe Root’s men are fresh from their 3-1 victory over Faf du Plessis’ South Africa while Jason Holder’s West Indies come in to the game without a Test victory in England since 2000.
The visitors though, will be feeling slightly better knowing that they have played a day-night Test before, having contested a fixture against Pakistan in 2016 in Dubai.
Though the odds are stacked against the eighth-ranked West Indies, they have found some form in the warm-up games against Essex, Kent and Derbyshire and under the lights at Edgbaston, they could be a tricky opponent for the confident English.
With talent in abundance across the two teams, we look at two key players from either side who could have a major say in the outcome of the match.
The former Durham man becomes the 12th opening partner for Alastair Cook since the retirement of Andrew Strauss and has come in to the side after replacing Keaton Jennings who has had a disastrous time of late.
The 30-year-old has waited a long time for his maiden England call-up and was in line for selection in the South Africa series but Tom Westley got the nod ahead of him.
The left-hander has had a great season with Surrey in the County Championship this year, scoring 828 runs at a batting average of 59 which includes a highest score of 197.
Earlier this year, he hit a magnificent 165 against Warwickshire on his county debut for Surrey.
With a strong domestic season behind him, Stoneman will be looking to make an instant impact when he partners Cook at Edgbaston.
Stoneman will be looking to carry over his domestic form to Edgbaston.
The leader of the Englandpace attack, Anderson was on fire against the Proteas where he picked up 20 wickets in the four matches.
One of the biggest exponents of swing-bowling, Anderson is fast approaching the 500-Test wicket mark as he needs a further 13 scalps to reach the landmark.
This would make him only the third pacer after the great Glenn Mcgrath and Courtney Walsh to have accomplished that feat.
Anderson’s recent experience with the pink-ball will come in handy.
The right-armed bowler also got a proper feel of the pink-ball while representing Lancashire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston earlier this summer.
The 32 overs bowled by Anderson in the game should hold him in good stead, given the rest of the England attack has little pink-ball experience.
The 25-year-old has been in immense touch recently and is the flag-bearer of the next generation of talent coming out of the Caribbean.
The man from Barbados had a great time individually in the three-match series against Pakistan where he scored 401 runs at an impressive average of over 100. This included two centuries and two half-centuries.
The right-handed batsman has been on fire in the warm-up matches in England where he has hit scores of 110*, 60*, 81 and 50* against Derbyshire and Essex.
Still only 10 matches into his Test cricket, Chase could just be the real thing for cricket in West Indies to revive what has been ailing fortunes.
Chase has been in extremely good knick in the warm-up games.
The 29-year-old pacer from Trinidad has become one of the leaders of the West Indies pace attack in recent times.
Just returning from an injury, Gabriel took part in the warm-up game against Derbyshire where he picked up two wickets to get back into his rhythm.
Gabriel had a good time against Pakistan recently.
The Trinidad man has accumulated 26 Test caps for the West Indies and as such he is one of the more experienced members in a new-look side.
He had a decent series against Pakistan where he picked up 15 wickets in the three matches and his slinging action could cause problems for the English batsmen.
