England all-rounder Chris Woakes is eager to lead the team’s bowling attack in their upcoming Test tours to Pakistan and New Zealand despite not having a very good record in away red-ball matches.
Woakes, 35, has 126 wickets in 32 Test matches at home but has only managed to bag 36 wickets in 20 matches abroad. Similarly, he has a bowling average of 51.88 in away Tests, compared to 21.57 at home.
Following James Anderson’s retirement from Test cricket, with Stuart Broad already retired, Woakes started to lead the team’s bowling attack in the longer format and he will not shy away from continuing to do so in away Tests.
"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.
"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 away Tests this winter. Three against Pakistan in October and as many against New Zealand in December. Following the white-wash against West Indies, their red-ball coach, Brendon McCullum stated that it would be “hard to rub him [Woakes] out right now” from selection overseas.
England are currently hosting Sri Lanka in a three-Test series and the home side aims to improve their position in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table with another series win.
