While explaining the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad from England’s Test squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, interim managing director of Andrew Strauss had this to say of the bowlers who would be making the trip.

“[It’s] an opportunity to get some good young bowling talent into the environment for the first time, to allow some of the bowlers that have been playing a role in the team to play either a slightly different role or more of a senior leadership role.”

The message, therefore, to the likes of Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes was clear. Time to see what you’ve got.

It is a message of particular significance to Woakes. By now, the disparity between Woakes’ home and away records is well known. In 25 Test matches at home, Woakes averages 35.25 with the bat and 22.63 with the ball. And in 17 Tests away from home, the numbers drop to 20.10 with the bat, and rise to 52.38 with the ball. Of his 125 Test wickets, 94 have come in England. For Woakes, any opportunity to lead the attack in the West Indies will be a show of enormous faith in the Warwickshire all-rounder, and one that could be a final opportunity to prove his worth overseas.

The difference in Woakes’ record becomes even more stark when analysing his strike rate. In English conditions, Woakes takes a wicket every 44.5 balls he bowls in Test cricket. A phenomenal record that is superior to either Anderson (51.5) or Broad (50.6). In fact, no one has taken as many Test wickets in England as Woakes at a better strike rate. Away from home however, his strike rate rises to three figures: 101.2. For contrast, part time off-spinner Joe Root’s strike rate away from home is 87.8.

However, before England’s doomed tour of Australia, there was sufficient reason to caveat Woakes’ poor away record. In the preceding three years, Woakes had played just two Test matches away from home in which he had taken seven wickets at an average of 25.7. A small sample size, but one that hinted at the idea that Woakes was an improved quantity away from home and should be judged on the present, not the past.

“I haven’t played a huge amount of overseas cricket since [the 2017-18 Ashes]”, Woakes said in October, “but when I have, I feel like I have improved. I feel like I am bowling a better length more consistently and actually I have to been able to get that Kookaburra ball to move a bit, when I haven’t previously.

“I am four years older [than in 2017], I have played more cricket, I’ve got more experience under my belt, and I believe I am a better bowler now than I was then. I have played a lot more frequently since then and I feel a bit more at ease at that level.”

In his three Tests in Australia, however, Woakes’ troubles with the Kookaburra ball returned, as he took just six wickets at an average of 55.33. Not only that, but Woakes conceded his runs at an uncharacteristically expensive economy rate of 3.74. Until that series, Woakes career economy rate in games away from home had been a more miserly 2.97.

England have decided to give Woakes another chance. And one that if Strauss’s words are to be believed will involve him taking on more responsibility than ever before. It should also be noted here that he has spent most of his Test career as a change bowler, with new-ball duties going elsewhere – could the responsibility of bowling from the get-go help him cure his away troubles? When he’s been handed that task in 50-over cricket, he’s thrived; Woakes has taken the new ball in every ODI he has played since June 2016, taking 99 wickets in 63 matches at 26.34.

The good news for Woakes is that he has a strong record against the West Indies. In three Tests against them he has averaged 28.33 with the bat, including a high score of 61 not out, and 23.46 with the ball, featuring a best of 5-50. England will be mightily pleased if he puts up similar numbers in the Caribbean.

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