Yet 15 months later, Woakes finds himself preparing not only to play in England’s first Test against Pakistan, but to lead their bowling attack. He will have to battle scorching-hot conditions in Multan from Monday, where he will play his first away Test in two-and-a-half years and his first in Asia since 2016.
Before Woakes travelled to Pakistan, he rowed back on some of his previous self-analysis, telling the Guardian that he believed some of the criticism of his overseas record had been unduly harsh in tone. “I know what I’m capable of,” he said. “The fact I’ve been selected suggests I’m pretty good and from a knowledge perspective, I have a wealth of it – more so now than ever in my career.”
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“I’m really, really impressed with how Woakesy’s been able to operate for us since he’s taken up the ‘leader of the attack’ mantle,” McCullum added. “Throughout the English summer, when the ball was flat, he was still able to use his skill and knowledge to get the ball to reverse-swing, and challengers [batters] in different ways. Add his batting to that, and his leadership qualities, and he becomes a pretty important player for us.”
Ollie Pope, who will captain in Stokes’ absence, believes that Woakes will be able to replicate Anderson’s “control” which underpinned England’s success in the first two Tests of the 2022 series. “It’s a great opportunity for him to fill in that role and use the skills that he’s got with reverse [swing], movement off the pitch and different angles on the pitch,” Pope said.
Woakes may also benefit from substantially different conditions to those England experienced in Multan two years ago, when they toured two months later in the year. Temperatures are significantly higher this time around, touching 40 degrees, but the pitch has a healthy covering of grass and has been prepared on instruction to bring Pakistan’s seamers to the fore.
“We’re going to have to ensure that we adapt to the conditions, which I think look a lot different to what we played on a couple of years ago,” McCullum said. “There’s a bit more live grass on the wicket than what we saw throughout all three Test matches [in 2022]… We’ve just got to be quite malleable with our plans and adapt as quickly as we can.”
For all of the intangibles that might play in his favour, Woakes will know that it is up to him to prove at last that he can be effective overseas: by his own admission, the numbers do not paint a flattering picture. If he succeeds, this tour could be the start of a late-career resurgence which culminates in next winter’s Ashes; if not, it will be the postscript to an unhappy chapter of an otherwise fine career.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
Source: ESPN Crickinfo