England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope has no doubt that Chris Woakes will expertly spearhead their pace attack in the three-Test series in Pakistan beginning in Multan on Monday.
England swept a three-Test series on their last tour of Pakistan but the look of their bowling attack has completely changed since James Anderson, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson troubled the home batters two years ago.
Anderson has retired, Wood is out with an elbow injury while Robinson has been dropped leaving Woakes to lead a pace attack also including Gus Atkinson, who has played six Tests, and debutant Brydon Carse.
“He’s still got that real hunger and desire to play a lot more test cricket, which is brilliant for us,” Pope said of Woakes on Sunday.
“He’s been working hard on his game to try and find different ways of taking wickets on different surfaces.”
“Any side was going to miss Jimmy Anderson but at the same time, we’ve seen this summer that guys can step up and fill in for him.
“Chris Woakes, the skills that he’s got probably operating at a fairly similar pace, he’s been working hard on his skills so he can step up and be that real leader of the attack.”
Atkinson’s pace and reverse-swing skills would come in handy in Pakistan, said Pope, who also had high expectations of Carse.
“We’ve obviously got Gus Atkinson off the back of a really hot summer. A bit of extra pace with him and Brydon Carse too. So I think we’ve got the skill set to fill that gap that Jimmy’s left.
“Obviously, it’s never going to be easy, but it’s going to be a great opportunity for those guys to learn and to bowl in some different conditions and use their pace and their skills.”
Anderson, now England’s bowling coach, will join the squad in Multan soon.
England are without regular skipper Ben Stokes, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.
Pakistan are smarting from 2-0 whitewash by Bangladesh last month but captain Shan Masood said they knew how to neutralise England’s aggressive style as he named their playing XI.
“We know their style but at the end of the day it’s about what we need to do to counter that,” Shan said.
“I think that clarity shows in our playing XI, which was chosen after considering the opposition and the conditions here.
“We believe this set of players give us our best chance against England.”