by England captain Ollie Pope has backed Chris Woakes to lead the attack in Pakistan and redefine his reputation as a bad traveler.
The discrepancy between Woakes’ home and away statistics is well known – in English conditions he has 137 wickets at 21.59 compared to just 36 at 51.88 away – 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 lead the way 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 worked hard on his game to find different ways to take wickets on different surfaces,” Pope said.
“I know he’s been chatting to all the boys and working really hard on how to take wickets with the Kookaburra ball on some less reactive pitches. I think that shows what he’s all about – he still has that real hunger and desire to play a lot more Test cricket, which is great for us (missing Jimmy and Stuart Broad).
“It’s a great opportunity for him to fill that role and use the skills he has. He strives to constantly improve his game. He has some different options, different angles and skills that he can use in this series.”
