England vs West Indies Tests 2017: England Win 2-1 — Anderson's 500th Wicket, Shai Hope's Headingley Double, Joint Player of Series

England won the West Indies Test series 2017 (Wisden Trophy) by 2-1 across 3 Tests. Tests: 1st at Edgbaston Birmingham (day/night Test, England won); 2nd at Headingley Leeds (West Indies won, chasing 322 on day five); 3rd at Lord's London (England won, Anderson took his 500th Test wicket). Joint Players of the Series: James Anderson (England) and Shai Hope (West Indies). Joe Root captained England; Jason Holder captained West Indies.

James Anderson's 500th Test Wicket at Lord's: Only the 5th Bowler in History

James Anderson becoming the 5th bowler in Test history to take 500 Test wickets — achieving the milestone at Lord's in the 3rd Test against West Indies during the 2017 series — gave the England vs West Indies series its most celebrated individual moment: an English bowler breaking into the 500-wicket club at cricket's most famous ground. Anderson, the Lancashire and England right-arm swing bowler who had been England's leading wicket-taker since 2008, taking his 500th Test wicket at Lord's in a Test England won to clinch the 2-1 series put Anderson alongside the four previous members of the 500-wicket club: Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Shane Warne (708), Anil Kumble (619), and Glenn McGrath (563) — Anderson being the first-ever pace bowler from England to reach the milestone and the first English bowler overall. Anderson going on to become Test cricket's leading wicket-taker among pace bowlers (exceeding McGrath's 563) and finishing his 2024 England career with 704 Test wickets — the most by any pace bowler in history and the second-highest Test wicket tally overall — makes his 500th wicket at Lord's in 2017 a landmark in his ascent to those records.

Shai Hope Headingley: 147 and 118* — First Player to Score Centuries in Both Innings at Headingley in 534 Matches

Shai Hope's Headingley 2nd Test performance — scoring 147 in the first innings and 118* in the second innings, then West Indies chasing 322 on day five to win by 5 wickets — was one of the most celebrated individual West Indies Test performances of the decade and gave West Indies their only win of the 2017 England series. Hope's double-innings century at Headingley — the first player in the 534 previous first-class matches at the ground to score a century in each innings — came against England's bowling attack (Anderson, Broad, Woakes, Ali) on a surface that had been bowler-friendly for the previous 534 Headingley first-class matches without producing this feat. West Indies chasing 322 on day five — a target typically beyond touring sides' capability in English Test conditions — with Hope's 118* anchoring the chase gave the 2017 series its single most dramatic Test result. Hope's 375 series runs total, combined with Anderson's 19 wickets, gave the joint Player of the Series award the unusual scenario of the award reflecting two performers on opposite sides at comparable series impact levels.

England vs West Indies Tests 2017 in Context

The England vs West Indies Test series 2017 (Wisden Trophy) — August-September 2017, Edgbaston, Headingley, Lord's — produced England winning 2-1, Anderson's 500th wicket at Lord's, Hope's Headingley double-century innings, and a joint Player of the Series award reflecting balanced individual quality on both sides. Root's England, beginning their new Test captaincy era after Cook's 2017 retirement from the captaincy, won the series despite West Indies' Headingley performance and Anderson's 19 wickets being the decisive difference across 3 Tests. Jason Holder's West Indies — competitive enough to win one Test and produce Hope's historic double innings — reflected the bilateral context: West Indies competitive at individual moments in English conditions without having the Test bowling depth to contain England for three consecutive matches.