England seamer tears through CA XI Woakes has a ball in NQ
ENGLAND seamer Chris Woakes has fired a warning shot ahead of next week’s first Ashes Test with a six- wicket haul on day one of their tour match against the Cricket Australia XI at Riverway Stadium.
Woakes was easily the standout on an overcast day in Townsville, finishing with figures of 6- 54 from his 18 overs to reduce the young Australian team to 9- 249 at stumps.
England’s pace depth has been stretched thin during their warm- up matches, with Jimmy Anderson not playing in Townsville due to illness, while Steven Finn has already been sent home to recover from a knee injury.
But Woakes, who has played just one Ashes Test at The Oval in 2013, showed he can be the spearhead as England look to retain the urn on Australian soil for just the third time since 1986.
The 28- year- old took 4- 17 in the second innings of their pinkball match in Adelaide last week and Woakes felt he was getting into a strong bowling rhythm on the eve of the Ashes series.
“I think the most important thing for me today was I was pleased with actually how it came out and my rhythm was good,” he said.
“Obviously six wickets is pleasing, but had I picked up one or two, I’d have still been pleased with how I bowled and how it came out.
“I think it’s a fairly slow pitch. We felt that we had to be patient and it didn’t feel like you could blast the opposition away.
“You had to sit in areas for a while and try to force them to make a mistake.
“As a bowling unit, we felt like we bowled really well and we’ll take some confidence from that.”
CA XI openers Nick Larkin ( 30) and Jake Carder ( 39) com- bined for a 66- run partnership.
Woakes was the man who finally struck the first blow as Larkin sliced a ball through to James Vince, who took a sensational catch in the gully, before he had Carder caught behind just three overs later.
There was some concern for England in the first over after lunch when wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow was forced from the field with a finger injury, but it didn’t stop Woakes as he removed both Ryan Gibson ( 7) and Jason Sangha ( 0) in the space of three balls.
Craig Overton ( 2- 32) got in on the act to have Will Pucovski ( 20) caught behind as Bairstow returned to take the gloves, albeit with the bruised middle finger on his left hand strapped.
Woakes claimed his fifth wicket soon after tea when he ended Harry Nielsen’s first- class debut for 20, caught by Vince in the slips, to reduce the Aussies to 6- 162.
CA XI skipper Matthew Short ( 51) scored a valiant half- century, but Overton found a faint edge which was snatched by England captain Joe Root.
Woakes struck immediately with the new ball to clean bowl Simon Milenko ( 19) and break up a promising 36- run partnership with Gurinder Sandhu.
Stuart Broad ( 1- 33) snared his first wicket as Vince grabbed a loose shot from Sandhu ( 25) before some late hitting from Daniel Fallins ( 31) saw Australia finish the first day at 9- 249.