Chris Woakes believes he could lead England’s bowling attack in Pakistan and New Zealand this winter, despite his modest Test record overseas.
Woakes has a bowling average of 51.88 in his 20 away Tests, compared to 21.57 in 32 at home, but said that he will not “shy away” from touring either this winter and beyond, despite having last featured in an overseas Test at Grenada in March 2022.
Woakes took 3 for 32 at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday as England bowled Sri Lanka out for 236 on the opening day of the first of three Tests, and has now taken 14 wickets at 19.07 this summer. At 35, he has led England’s attack since James Anderson followed Stuart Broad into retirement earlier this summer, and is not ruling himself out of fulfilling the same role overseas.
“Naturally as you get older, the more Test cricket you play, you pick up new skills, you have more experience to fall back on and are a little bit wiser,” Woakes said. “I haven’t played an away Test for a little while, so it’s hard to look back at that – but that might be a good thing as well, that I haven’t in a little while. It gives you a little fresh look on things.”
Woakes was not involved for England’s only Test tour of the 2023-24 winter, instead playing for Sharjah Warriors at the ILT20 after appearing to concede that he was unlikely to play another overseas Test, saying: “My away record speaks for itself.” However, after bad light brought an early close in Manchester, he insisted that he remains available for selection.
“I certainly wouldn’t shy away from it,” Woakes said. “I’ll play for England where I’m picked to play for England. I certainly wouldn’t rule myself out, and obviously that will be a discussion for probably further down the line, but I’m certainly not ruling myself out. The selectors will have their plans, but I’m certainly not going to turn down a tour if selected, so we shall see.”
England will play six overseas Tests this winter, three each against Pakistan in October and New Zealand in December. Brendon McCullum, their coach, said after their whitewash against West Indies that it would be “hard to rub him out right now” from selection overseas, not least as perhaps England’s only seamer capable of contributing regularly with the bat from No. 8.
He will bat one spot higher than that in this series, promoted to No. 7 in Ben Stokes’ absence. “I’ve worked hard on my batting in my whole career,” he said. “It’s not something which I’ve always found easy. I’ve put in some hard yards to make sure that I’m capable of doing that, and it’s an extra string in the bow which allows you to potentially be selected ahead of someone else, who maybe can’t quite fulfil that role.
“I feel like batting at No. 8 in the Test side, it’s probably a role which sometimes goes under the radar. You do have to be able to contribute with the bat and it’s not necessarily just the runs you score; it’s the time you spend out there to bat with the genuine batters that you come and join in the middle, who can then add more runs for the side.”
Having spent most of his Test career as a change bowler behind Anderson and Broad, Woakes has thrived with the new ball this summer. “It’s not like Ben and Baz have come up and said, ‘you are the leader, you have to lead this attack’. It’s just a role which I’m taking on this summer as the opening bowler and the oldest to try and give options and communicate with the other bowlers as much as I can.”
He struck twice in his fourth over on Wednesday, having Nishan Madushka caught at first slip when he went chasing after a wide outswinger, and setting Angelo Mathews up to pin him lbw playing no shot. “It was a big wicket for myself, and it’s always nice when you’ve moved a few away and then you get one to come back like that,” Woakes said.
In the afternoon session, Woakes had Kamindu Mendis caught behind to leave Sri Lanka 92 for 6, with poor light denying him an opportunity to dismiss debutant Milan Rathnayake, who made 72 from No. 9. “We’re really happy,” he said. “To bowl a team out on day one of a Test match and to be none down at the close is a superb day.
“The Sri Lankans will probably still feel with how the surface played for the first half of today that you can get on a roll and you can pick up wickets on that pitch, but we will see… it felt like today it was more of a new-ball pitch or a hard-ball pitch, where it moved around with that harder ball. Once it got soft, it actually looked really nice and easier to bat.”
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
