England’s Ashes preparation suffered a major blow after Ben Stokes was arrested in Bristol after his involvement in an altercation outside a nightclub. He was arrested by the Police and the investigations are still going on.
Although he was named in the squad for the Ashes series yet he didn’t travel down under. ECB hasn’t cleared his participation in the series as they are still waiting for the results of the investigation. He may or may not join the team depending on the verdict.
If he misses out, another all-rounder Chris Woakes is willing to fill in. He mentioned that he is ready to bat up the order if required and is up for the challenge. Even though he is generally a lower order batsman, yet he has the required skills to bat higher than his usual position.
“Losing Ben as an all-rounder means myself, Moeen and I suppose even Jonny have more of a chance to prove our worth. If I am to bat higher up the order, I will try to embrace that challenge and look forward to the opportunity to get in and score some big runs,” Chris Woakes told reporters at Lord’s before flying to Australia.
“I have always tried to maintain a mindset of a batsman, something I have worked on for a good few years now, originally with Graham Gooch and more recently with Mark Ramprakash, to not just to be a guy who contributes down the order,” the pacer continued.
Not that different playing in Australia
Chris Woakes also compared the conditions of Australia and England and said that there is not too much difference in the 2 countries. It’s a lot different when the side travels to countries like India but not so much in Australia.
“The rivalry speaks for itself whereas the conditions aren`t that much different to England, but in India they are. You face more spin on turning pitches which is something you`re not used to, but in Australia you face more fast bowling and generally the only real difference is less seam movement and more bounce. For an England cricketer going to Australia, in my eyes, is the pinnacle. There is such rivalry and such history and tradition, it is a great series to be a part of,” Woakes concluded.
