Robbo: Bears to Blast back with Woakes after blip
ENGLAND seamer Chris Woakes is back for the Birmingham Bears as they look to reverse a two-game Vitality Blast blip at home to Derbyshire Falcons tonight.
Woakes has missed the last four Blast outings having been called up for the England Test squad who beat Ireland on Saturday.
The 34-year-old, who missed out at Lord’s, has been named in the 16-man Ashes squad for the first two games against Australia.
But the England and Wales Cricket Board have given him the all-clear to feature against the Falcons as the Bears look to avenge their defeat at Derby five days earlier, which ended their 100% start to the competition.
After a gruelling schedule of four Blast games in a week, Woakes’ return is welcome news for firstteam coach Mark Robinson.
“It’s been a tough week, with four games in a very short space of time, which has been physically demanding, so it’s great to welcome back a bowler of Chris’ talent fresh from the national side,’’ he said.
“Woaksey looked very sharp in our two opening Blast games (he took two wickets in the opener against Yorkshire Vikings and another at Leicester) and he’ll be
keen to maintain his wickettaking form with an Ashes on the horizon.
“When you take a World Cup winner in Woaksey and a proven international bowler in Hassan Ali out of your team it’s going to have an impact. Any team in the world would miss them. It’s fantastic to have Chris back and hopefully Hass will follow soon.”
The Bears are looking to bounce back from defeats in their last two matches. Those losses – at the Falcons and last Saturday against Notts Outlaws at Edgbaston – came on the back of four straight wins and Robinson is confident his side has enough match-winners to get back on track.
He said: “We’re still feeling confident, we’re a good team, a dangerous team, but we’re not perfect. “In terms of this competition we’re well-placed, we’re second, we’ve won four from six. We’ve had a blip but we’ve had a chance to regroup and are ready to go again.
“There are no easy games in the Blast, every team has at least one player – maybe two or three – that can single-handedly turn a match. It only takes one to come out and have a good day in the sun, as Munro did for Notts against us, and it’s going to be hard.
“Games are influenced by these players, we think we’ve got these match-winners. We’re confident we’ll win a few more games, we’re
We’re still feeling confident. We’ve had a blip but we’ve had a chance to regroup and are ready to go again. Mark Robinson
confident Mo will come good, we’re confident Maxi has got that in him and that he can single-handedly win us a match. So, yes, there’s lots to play for and we’re up for an exciting next few weeks.”
Star-batter Sam Hain believes the Bears’ confidence hasn’t been dented by the defeat to Notts.
“It always takes me a while to digest games like that,” he said. “It was a good game, they got 214, and it was always going to be a tough chase. To get close is pleasing, but T20 can be very fickle as you know you’re going to lose some along the way.
“I’m really proud of the boys and I know we’re playing some good cricket. Munro played a good innings to give them some momentum and we knew it would be tough.’’