Ben Stokes is relishing the prospect of unleashing both Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood in the second Test against West Indies

Ben Stokes says the prospect of two genuinely fast England bowlers operating in tandem during the second Rothesay Test against West Indies is ‘very exciting’.

England captain Stokes will hand the new ball to Chris Woakes in his 50th Test appearance at Trent Bridge, but then there will be spells when the recalled Mark Wood will be combining in a pace assault with Gus Atkinson, man of the match on debut at Lord's last week.

‘Look at the way Gus bowled last week, not only with the 12 wickets, but finding another bowler who can bowl between 87 and 90 miles per hour,’ Stokes said.

‘It’s very exciting, the prospect of seeing Gus Atkinson bowl at one end and Mark Wood at the other.

‘Woody had an unbelievable summer last year in the Ashes, he was a massive player for us with a huge impact. Everyone knows why: because of his pace.’

Indeed, Wood, 34, was claiming a match award himself a year ago against Australia at Headingley and England’s selections between now and the next Ashes in 16 months will be more about conditions down under at times rather than here.

This England team have 17 Tests to prepare for their holy grail of attempting to win back the urn from Australian hands, and will do so with Jimmy Anderson on the sidelines as a mentor following last week’s playing retirement.

‘The last two days has been really good and you can see the lads are really desperate to pick his brains,’ Stokes said.

’It's been a very smooth transition. no doubt there's still emotion with Jimmy because it's only been a week, but he knows he’s still got so much more to offer English cricket, I couldn't think of a better bloke to pass on the knowledge of fast bowling.’

Meanwhile, Ben Duckett could temporarily depart the Test on his home ground should his partner Paige go into labour this week.

Stokes said ‘there's a plan in place,’ adding: ‘We'll just have to make a decision if it was to happen before the game started.

‘If anything happens throughout the Test match, Ben will just go and come back into the team.

‘He's obviously desperate to play at his home ground but the message from me and Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) is family always comes first.’

Meanwhile, West Indies have named the same XI thrashed by an innings in the opening match of three, with Kraigg Brathwaite saying the players were being backed ‘100 per cent.’