England all-rounder Chris Woakes has said that he is desperate to make it into England’s playing XI for the fourth Ashes 2023 Test at Manchester next week after making a successful return to the side at Headingley.
Woakes made an impact with both bat and ball as England made a comeback in the ongoing series at Leeds. The bowling all-rounder picked up six wickets and scored an important 32 in the second innings as England completed the run chase to make the series 2-1.
“When you get the opportunity to play in an Ashes series then you try and take it with both hands,” said Woakes.
“I feel like last week went very well for myself and the team and when you win a game of cricket you obviously want to be part of the next game.”
“I’m obviously desperate to be part of next week, but at the same time I’ll get there, try and perform well in practice, do my right prep and the selection is out of my control. What will be will be but hopefully I get the nod.”
Speaking about the fourth Test, Woakes expects it to be a tight match but is hopeful that England can go to Manchester and put in a strong performance and get another win.
“It’s going to be another tight Test match,” Woakes explained. “We’ve seen all three Tests in this series be really tight.”
“There’s no doubt that Australia are a world-class side and are incredibly hard to beat and we’ve seen that across the series, but I think we’re confident that we can go there and put in another strong performance to get the win.”
“A lot will be dependent on how the pitch looks. The pitch will probably depend on what team we go in with, but the team will be confident in going and trying to get the win. We had a great week at Headingley and hopefully, we can take that confidence going into next week.”
