"I certainly wouldn't shy away from it" - Woakes on playing overseas Tests

England’s right-arm seamer Chris Woakes is eager to improve his numbers in overseas Tests after having another good outing at home, this time against Sri Lanka on day one of the opening Test at Manchester. The 35-year-old has an average of 21.57 in 32 home Tests, compared to 51.88 in his 20 away Tests. He hasn’t played an overseas Test since March 2022.

England are scheduled to travel to Pakistan and New Zealand later this year and Woakes wants to lead the attack despite having mediocre numbers 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," said Woakes after claiming 3/32 on August 21 (Wednesday).

"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. I'll play for England, where I'm picked to play for England. I certainly wouldn't rule myself out, and obviously, that will probably be a discussion 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."

One thing that will work in Woakes’ favour is his batting, as England don’t have anyone apart from him who can chip in with the bat at No.8. In Ben Stokes’ absence, Woakes will bat at No.7 in the first Test against Sri Lanka. The right-hander has scored 1,888 runs in 51 Tests at an average of 27.76, which is more than decent for a bowling all-rounder.

"I've worked hard on my batting in my whole career. 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."

Talking about leading England’s bowling attack following James Anderson’s retirement, Woakes said, "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."

England managed to reduce Sri Lanka to 113/7, but skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (74) and debutant Milan Rathnayake (72) hit fine fifties to propel their team to a respectable total of 236. England were 22 for no loss at the end of day one, still trailing by 214 runs. "We're really happy. 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."

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