Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ENGLAND v PAKISTAN FIRST TEST WOAKEY WOAKEY
Chris: We’ve been slow starters recently but now I’m witnessing history watching Jimmy & Stuart ..we can put an end to all that
England have lost the first Test in eight of their last 10 series.
HOME bird Chris Woakes hopes the stardust of two all-time greats will cure England’s alarming record of false starts in Test series.
Barely 12 hours after the World Cup holders complete their one-day job against Ireland 240 miles away, England’s first Test against Pakistan opens in the bio-secure Old Trafford bubble tomorrow.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad (right) will relish the chance to build on a double act which has already clocked up 1,090 Test wickets between them.
All-rounder Woakes was relieved to discover the coffee machine was still there when he checked into the same hotel room, with a pitchside view, where he stayed last month.
And he admits England need to wake up and smell the coffee faster than they did against the West Indies after Joe Root’s men recovered from losing the first Test to win 2-1.
Woakes wrapped up the series by taking 5-50 and his record in England – 81 wickets at 22.53 each – should be enough to keep his place if Ben Stokes can only play as a specialist batsman.
But he admits there will be no hiding place if England fall to a ninth defeat in 11 opening Tests of a series.
Like the rest of the squad, Woakes was allowed home for five nights to see his family after five weeks’ incarceration in the Covid-secure bubble. And he said: “We don’t see ourselves as having an excuse at all.
“I’d love to put my finger on why it keeps happening and it’s getting to a stage where it’s not just coincidence.
“But we want to put that right, this is a new series and we know the conditions here at Old Trafford, so those are no excuses.”
Woakes had a close-up view when Broad took his 500th Test wicket in the third Test against the Windies and followed sidekick Anderson as the only other Englishman to reach the milestone.
He said: “I hope I’ve done enough to be in that starting XI.
“But we’ve got still two of England’s greatest ever charging in and taking wickets.
“It’s incredibly hard just getting into the side when those two are around – but it’s also special being on the park with two of England’s greats.”