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Louise Thomas
Editor
England captain Ollie Pope has backed Chris Woakes to lead the attack in Pakistan and rewrite his reputation as a poor traveller.
The disparity between Woakes’ home and away statistics is well known – he boasts 137 wickets at 21.59 in English conditions versus just 36 at 51.88 on the road – and he has not played an overseas Test in the last two-and-a-half years.
But with Stuart Broad and James Anderson now retired, he has found a new lease of life as the side’s senior bowler and is ready to front up in the series opener in Multan.
And Pope, who continues to captain the team in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes, has no doubts that the 35-year-old is an old dog with some new tricks.
“It’s great for us to have Woakesy on tour, he’s a guy you always want in your England team and he’s been working hard on his game to find different ways of taking wickets on different surfaces,” said Pope.
“I know he’s been chatting to all the guys and working really hard on how he can find a way of taking wickets with the Kookaburra ball on some less responsive pitches. I think that shows where he’s at – he’s still got that real hunger and desire to play a lot more Test cricket, which is brilliant for us (when we’re) missing Jimmy and Stuart Broad.
“It’s a great opportunity for him to fill in that role and use the skills that he’s got. He’s been looking to constantly improve his game. he’s got some different options, different angles and skills he can go and use throughout this series.”
Pope is preparing to lead his country for the first time in an away Test, having overseen a 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka this summer, and admits he still has question marks over the surface.
The hosts have floated the idea of a pace-friendly track in the local media but the dry, baking heat means there should also be a big role for slow bowlers. England have hedged their bets with three seamers, including debutant Brydon Carse, as well as Somerset spinners Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach.
Managing those options in temperatures forecast to pass 40 degrees is a task for Pope.
“We’ve picked a side that can cater for both spin and seam. As the game goes on it will be interesting to see how the pitch plays… no one’s quite sure yet what kind of pitch it will be,” he said.
“It’s about adapting as the game goes on and using your cricket knowledge to try and find a way of taking 20 wickets in the field. It might be fairly English conditions to start and then break up with the heat as the game goes on so it’s just about adapting to that as a captain.”
