CHRIS Woakes shrugged off his own ambitions to express his delight at helping England by undermining West Indies’ stuttering top order in their final warm-up match yesterday.
The 20-year-old Warwickshire seamer continued his impressive form in county cricket last season, when he claimed 42 championship wickets, to claim four for 26 as West Indies slumped to 76 for four during their match against England Lions at Derby.
Woakes was the pick of an attack during an opening day restricted to only 28 overs at the Racecourse Ground in front of watching England coach Andy Flower in their final outing before next week’s opening Test at Lord’s.
His display cannot have done his own international ambitions any harm, but Woakes claimed he was concentrating on keeping West Indies under pressure after they were dismissed for a lowly 146 against Essex at Chelmsford last week.
‘‘From a personal point of view it’s a good time to impress and shine and show people what I can do, but it’s more about putting West Indies on the back foot for the Test match starting next week,’’ said Woakes.
“I think we’ve started well and hopefully we can carry on taking wickets in the morning.’’
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