The Times - UK (2020-07-21)

the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 2GM 65

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If Ben Stokes again took the plaudits

yesterday, and much was made of

Stuart Broad performing so strongly

after being left out of the first Test, it

should not be overlooked that Chris

Woakes had a very good game on his

own return to the side. Like Broad, he

must have been champing at the bit;

like Broad, he took the opportunity to

remind everyone of his abilities.

Here, the England attack unpicked

the West Indies batting in far more

skilful fashion than at Southampton

and the know-how of the two thirtyso-

methings, Broad and Woakes, was one

of the principal reasons why. They

picked up 11 wickets between them,

nine with the second new ball on

Sunday and the first new ball yesterday.

“The way they bowled was really

phenomenal,” Stokes said. “How they

managed to get those wickets [on Sun-

day] was a massive point in this game.”

Woakes’s dismissal of Kraigg Bra-

thwaite yesterday with a terrific nip-

backer was also a huge moment given

Brathwaite’s capacity to hold up an end,

although the sweeter wicket on a per-

sonal level might be that of Shane Dow-

rich as it was Woakes’s 100th in Tests.

As he had already scored 1,177 runs,

he also became the 16th England crick-

eter to complete the double of 1,000

runs and 100 wickets, and it is worth

noting that it took him only 34 Tests to

get there, fewer than Stokes and An-

drew Flintoff (both 43 Tests) or Jason

Holder (39 Tests).

Woakes’s runs are an important part

of what he brings to the side because

whoever bats at No 8 has got to be able

in the second innings as he scored 78 from 57 balls with some ferocious hitting

How

West Indies

rated

By Simon Wilde

2

3

8

7

7

2

5

7

5

6

5

Total

57

Kraigg Brathwaite First-innings

75 was his team’s best score of

the match but they needed him

to drop anchor yesterday

John Campbell Failed twice

with the bat and his dropping

of Stokes yesterday morning

proved to be very costly

Shai Hope Scores of 25 and 7

continued his disappointing run

in Test cricket; he could be

dropped for the decider

Shamarh Brooks A pair of

sixties was a fair reflection of a

classy performance in what was

only his fifth Test appearance

Roston Chase Another

respectable all-round game

with five wickets and a half-

century in the first innings

Jermaine Blackwood Fell to

Broad for a first-innings duck

but a fifty yesterday threatened

to halt England’s victory march

Shane Dowrich The West Indies

gloveman had a shocker with

the bat, falling leg-before in both

innings for a pair of ducks

Jason Holder Lost out heavily in

his duel with Stokes: fell cheaply

in the first innings and was

outwitted by Bess in the second

Alzarri Joseph Wicket of Root

was his one success and he may

sit out the final Test; scored 32

as nightwatchman

Kemar Roach His side’s best fast

bowler with four wickets —

admittedly two of them in the

slog. Must play on Friday

Shannon Gabriel Man of the

match in Southampton went

wicketless and could now make

way for a second spinner

The T20 World Cup that was due to be

played in Australia in October and

November has been postponed until

2021 because of the pandemic.

The decision, which was confirmed

by the ICC yesterday, means that there

will now be a T20 World Cup in both

2021 and 2022.

India were originally due to stage the

event in 2021. The ICC is yet to decide

whether Australia or India will play

host to the 2021 event, with the other

staging the new 2022 edition. The 50-

over World Cup in 2023, also scheduled

to be played in India, has been moved

from February and March to October

and November of that year.

India have pulled out of the proposed

tri-series in September against England

59.38

Stokes’s Test batting

average in the past 12

months — 1,247 runs in 13

matches with four

centuries. He has also

taken 29 wickets at

30.93

8

Sam Curran has won

all eight Test matches

he has played at home —

his record away

is W5 L4 D1

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHER

Unsung Woakes shows there

can be life after Anderson

how well Woakes might have bowled

last year had he played the Test on this

ground against Australia — it was the

one Test in the series that he missed as

the selectors favoured Craig Overton

instead; that, despite Woakes taking

seven wickets in the Old Trafford Test

of 2016 against Pakistan. If he were to

play on Friday, England know what

they would get.

Sadly, Woakes lives in Anderson’s

shadow as much as he does that of

Stokes. Anderson may be fêted as the

classic English-conditions bowler, but

Woakes’s record in Tests in this country

is unrivaled in modern times.

Among England bowlers

with 75 Test wickets in home

Tests — and precisely 75 of

Woakes’s 100 wickets for En-

gland have been taken at

home — his average is

lower at 22.90 than

anyone who has

played in the past 50

years. Anderson

averages 23.85

and the late, great

Bob Willis 23.50.

Broad trails quite a

way behind on 26.53.

For the time being

Woakes is likely to continue

to serve as Anderson’s un-

derstudy. It is revealing that

Woakes has actually per-

formed better when Anderson is

not alongside him than when

he is, presumably because he

is granted a more senior

role and gets to see

more of the new ball. In

12 Tests without Ander-

son, he has taken 40

wickets at about 20

apiece.

But the time will come

when Anderson is gone, and the ever-

green Woakes may finally get his

chance on a regular basis.

to bat and of all the many frontline fast-

bowling candidates Woakes and Sam

Curran offer most with the bat.

What is also not fully appreciated

outside the England camp is how solid

a citizen Woakes is. One senior source

has said of the 31-year-old that he

always provides “Rolls-Royce service”,

a message Joe Root endorsed last night.

“He is one of the most consistent

blokes on and off

the field. He is a

senior player who

sets a fantastic ex-

ample. For him to

be sat on the side-

lines at times is very

hard to see. Especially

in these conditions, we

know how useful he can

be.”

In an attack containing

younger men such as Dom Bess,

22, and Jofra Archer, 25, who are

still learning their craft, players

who turn in regular performances

are especially valuable.

Goodness knows which attack

will be deployed on Friday in the

third Test but Woakes is going to

have a tough job to hold on to his

place given that he is regarded as

the closest match-up to James An-

derson, 37, who is a hard man to

keep out of the side.

It is worth noting that Woakes’s

match figures here of 37-13-76-5 are

the sort that Anderson might have

happily taken alongside his name.

For the record, Anderson’s figures in

the first Test were 40-14-104-3, and he

went without a wicket on the final day

when England were pushing for vic-

tory. Here Woakes achieved more

swing than any other bowler in the

side.

It is also worth reflecting on

T20 World Cup pushed back to 2021

Women and South Africa Women

because of coronavirus concerns.

Instead, England are likely to play a

bilateral series against South Africa

with seven limited-overs fixtures

across three weeks in September, all to

be played at the County Ground in

Derby under the same biosecure

conditions as the men’s Test series

between England and West Indies.

The matches will form part of

England’s preparations for defending

their 50-over World Cup title in New

Zealand in February, an event that is

still, as it stands, going ahead because

New Zealand is deemed a Covid-safe

country.

Mohammad Amir, the Pakistan fast

bowler, will join the squad in the UK for

the T20 series at the end of August

having initially made himself

unavailable to tour. Amir, 28, pulled out

of the tour because the dates clashed

with the birth of his second child and he

was concerned about travelling during

the pandemic. However, the baby was

born earlier than expected, which

means that he will now be able to join

up with the squad, provided he receives

a further negative Covid-19 test result.

Amir, who was banned from cricket

for five years and sentenced to six

months in prison for his part in a spot-

fixing scandal in 2010, retired from Test

cricket last year at the age of 27 but has

continued to play international

limited-overs cricket.

The Pakistan squad are in a biosecure

bubble in Derby, where they will stay

until the week before the first Test,

which starts on August 5 at Emirates

Old Trafford.

Elizabeth Ammon

Simon Wildede

Woakes, 31, claimed five

wickets at Old Trafford

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