WOAKES HOPES
Chris has two Tests to prove his class
Chris Woakes will never have a better chance to finally prove he belongs at international level when he steps into the local hero’s shoes today in what could be the last Test staged at Durham.
The absence of the injured Ben stokes is a huge blow to a county £5million in debt and in desperate need of a successful Test after receiving a hospital pass from the eCB in the shape of mediocre, earlyseason opposition in sri Lanka.
But the second investec Test represents a golden opportunity for his replacement to replicate the county form that has already earned him a century and a ninewicket haul for Warwickshire in the Championship this season.
Woakes, 27, does not exactly have the glamour to whet the appetite of a north-east crowd denied the sight of stokes, english cricket’s new superstar, putting the sri Lankans to the sword in front of his own adoring public.
Yet he can be a mightily effective all-rounder in domestic cricket and will now have two matches to improve on a record of eight wickets in six Tests at an average of 63 that leaves doubts over his effectiveness at the highest level.
‘We have not seen the best of him yet in international cricket,’ admitted england captain alastair Cook at a wintry Durham yesterday as he confirmed that Woakes will play here and in the final Test at Lord’s.
‘he is that one performance away from feeling comfortable and believing he is good enough, but there is no doubt in my mind, facing him in the nets and seeing what he does for Warwickshire, that he is a character to be respected. he has the next couple of games with Ben out to make our selection really hard.’
Durham are as much in need of a productive Test as Woakes is.There is much to like about the northernmost county, not least their habit of producing england players, but they find themselves fighting to stay afloat.
huge debts have come with the eCB’s folly of encouraging too many counties to build internationalquality grounds and a bidding system that forced them to pay a prohibitive £950,000 to stage this low-key match. add the fact that it comes hot on the heels of a Test On the ball: Chris Woakes shows his football skills as Alex Hales and skipper Alastair Cook look on REUTERS staged just an hour or so down the a1 in Leeds and there should be much sympathy for a county whose international future almost certainly lies in white rather than red-ball cricket.
‘i didn’t realise we had such a good record here,’ said Cook when reflecting on england’s five wins in the five Tests staged at Chester-lestreet. ‘We’ve always had great support here and the noise and atmosphere when stuart Broad took those wickets against australia three years ago was brilliant.
‘i believe we need to keep playing at each end of the country so that more people can see Test cricket. i don’t know the ins and outs of their situation but it would be a great shame if we don’t play here any more.’
Durham report a good week of ticket sales and are optimistic the ground will be near its 13,500 capacity tomorrow, but there could be a lot of empty seats today as england begin their attempt to clinch the series with a Test to spare.
sri Lanka were ‘embarrassing’ at headingley, in the words of their captain angelo Mathews, admittedly in the face of superlative bowling from Jimmy anderson and Broad, and conditions here could be even tougher for them. Yet this is the sort of match which has seen the modern england below their best and it is paramount that they ram home their advantage in ruthless fashion if they are to go on to top the world rankings.
For that to happen england need much more from their underperforming top order. Cook, who needs 20 more runs to reach 10,000 in Test cricket, confirmed that Jonny Bairstow will go up to six in the absence of stokes, with Moeen ali at seven and Woakes slotting in at eight.
Most attention will be on the man at No 3, Nick Compton, who admitted this week that he will be playing for his england future in the last two Tests after extending his less-than-convincing run with a duck at headingley.
‘it’s quite refreshing that he has said that,’ said Cook. ‘You are always under pressure when you play for england, and other batsmen want his place, but he’s got another opportunity here.
‘You only have to look at the runscoring chart over the last five years to know he’s a good player and he’s shown he can play at this level with two centuries against New Zealand and in what he did in south africa.
‘he needs a score but he’s in a very good place to do it.’