MR DEPENDABLE
TO ALL-ROUND SUPERSTAR MATCH-WINNER
With Stokes out, Root backs Woakes to step and deliver more and more dominant performances
CHRIS WOAKES is being backed to repeat his excellence with bat and ball as England try to seal a first series double for three years.
Woakes could not have picked a better time to step out of Ben Stokes’s shadow and reaffirm his place as England’s second world-class Test all-rounder.
With Stokes having played his last Test of the summer at Old Trafford, Woakes showed he can match his more illustrious team-mate and produce the same kind of match-winning performances.
And skipper Joe Root reckons his very own Mr Dependable has moved to a higher level after watching him guide the side home with 84 not out in a three-wicket first Test win.
“You watch Chris play and you know he is capable of scoring three or four more Test hundreds,” said Root. “His game is there.
“I referred to him in the other Test match as Mr Dependable and you can always trust that he will deliver. He is so consistent, on and off the field.
“An innings like this can give you so much confidence and he will take that forward for the rest of this summer and beyond. When you’re not out at the end of the game, that is what you dream of as a batter and an allrounder.
“Being there and making sure you win for your team. For him, this is huge.
“To be able to say he has dealt with the extremities that wicket provided and to come out with a win will give him so much confidence in his batting.”
Woakes’ performance with the bat will have surprised one or two, considering he had averaged just 12 since his only hundred against India in 2018.
He has struggled against the short ball and Pakistan will test him out more in the rest of the series.
But while his batting had faltered, his bowling went from strength to strength, taking 38 wickets at 22.8 in the same period, including two five-wicket hauls.
And Root reckons Woakes’ bowling has improved to such an extent he can no longer be dismissed as just a hometurf specialist.
“Over the last couple of years he’s become even more consistent and his bowling has gone to another level in the last year,” added Root.
“He has confidence from performing well abroad over the winter and his record at home speaks for itself.
“There is competition for places in our bowling department so there is always going to be a headache in selection.”