Chris Woakes.

[gio]

He took 45 @ 20 for Warwickshire last season, and was he not Warwickshire's top wicket taker as well? Pretty good for a 19yr old.

Definitely a promising start, but he'll need to learn more about his own game before being rushed into the England team. He's clearly pretty handy on grass-tops and when there's movement, but does he know how to contain on a flat track? Give him a couple of years to learn under Allan Donald and Ottis Gibson.

 

[Richard]

And anyway, you don't specifically want players who tear up county hacks in your test side, you want the guy who runs through test batting lineups.

You'd expect a Test-quality bowler to do both TBH.

Either way, far too soon for Woakes IMO. He's barely been around 5 minutes. Yes, he's had a fairly terrific start, but so have others, and they've fizzled-out. There's a reason England caps are thrown around like there's no tomorrow, and to a large extent reactions which are pro-Woakes-playing-now are it.

 

[Richard]

I haven't seen much of Woakes but my guess is that he's roughly where Broad was a couple of years ago.

He's already done more in his tiny career so far than Broad has in his 3-4 year one.

Not, obviously, to say he's neccessarily going to be better than Broad, but he's certainly a far swifter developer. Broad has barely even proven himself a county-standard bowler yet, Woakes is already someone on the road to doing that.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Any footage of this Woakes guy anywhere? Its a pretty big acheivement to dismiss the West Indies top 6 (obviously excluding Chris Gayle). How quick is he?

 

[Richard]

On the only occasion I saw him clocked, about 78-80 mph sort of range. Nothing remotely remarkable (very much medium-fast rather than fast-medium) but equally, it's good enough if you can do enough with the ball.

Funny, you know, I'd first pictured his action as a bit of a ringer for Jacob Oram's, from what I'd read. Not exactly.

 

[oitoitoi]

On the only occasion I saw him clocked, about 78-80 mph sort of range. Nothing remotely remarkable (very much medium-fast rather than fast-medium) but equally, it's good enough if you can do enough with the ball.

Funny, you know, I'd first pictured his action as a bit of a ringer for Jacob Oram's, from what I'd read. Not exactly.

Can't see this guy ever being any more effective than any other England bowler from the last decade. Not at his current pace anyway. Will probably look the part on helpful early season surfaces, but will seriously lack penetration against top class batsmen on flatties (bit like Stuart Broad).

 

[social]

From the very brief footage I saw of him the other day, he looks like he has a good action

Other than that, he's 20 and not express, so leave him on the fringes for the time being to learn a bit

 

[rivera213]

Can't see this guy ever being any more effective than any other England bowler from the last decade. Not at his current pace anyway. Will probably look the part on helpful early season surfaces, but will seriously lack penetration against top class batsmen on flatties (bit like Stuart Broad).

That's a bit negative. Sure, we aren't exactly producing loads of quality bowlers but surely Woakes deserves a chance before judging his ability at the highest level.

Most bowlers aren't successful on flat wickets apart from the greats of the game.

He's already done more in his tiny career so far than Broad has in his 3-4 year one

Yep. I'm almost certain Broad wouldn't be in the England team if he averaged lower than 20 with the bat.

Having said that, he took 7 @ 15 in his only CC match this year so maybe in English conditions, he will start to do the business.

Woakes averages 29 in FC, so he's no hack with the bat.

 

[zaremba]

Ambrose got a century (at a strike rate of 80) against the WI XI too. Prior is in the team on the "strength" of his batting. Ambrose is a better keeper than him (hell, my Nan is) and while you wont know how he bats against Fidel Edwards, he faced Jerome Taylor, Suleiman Benn and Daren Sammy who will all likely play in the 1st test.

From the inverted commas around the word "strength" you seem to doubt that Prior has ability as a batsman. While Ambrose was hitting his hundred, Prior was scoring an outstanding hundred of his own against Hants. And his ability to batter this West Indian team is more or less proven, and is largely the reason why he has a Test average of 48 (the 2nd highest of any keeper in Test history (25+ innings)).

I've nothing against Ambrose, by the way - and was chuffed to see him make a hundred.

 

[Craig]

No way should he be near the Test team. Give him this season and if he still produces the goods, then we can start thinking about winter tours etc. But in saying that, if they picked him for T20, it wouldn't be that bad since it isn't real international cricket anyway.

 

[rivera213]

From the inverted commas around the word "strength" you seem to doubt that Prior has ability as a batsman. While Ambrose was hitting his hundred, Prior was scoring an outstanding hundred of his own against Hants. And his ability to batter this West Indian team is more or less proven, and is largely the reason why he has a Test average of 48 (the 2nd highest of any keeper in Test history (25+ innings)).

I've nothing against Ambrose, by the way - and was chuffed to see him make a hundred.

I rate him as a batsman at FC level, but long term against Australia, South Africa & India I don't see him as being a 45 average player, or possibly even a 40.

His stats are good atm, but that's largely because of playing the West Indies who's bowlers aren't exactly the fearsome foursome nowadays.

Unless he has a complete shocked in the tests vs WI, he'll play in the Ashes. That'll be the real test.

...if they picked him for T20, it wouldn't be that bad since it isn't real international cricket anyway.

Ouch.

 

[oitoitoi]

I rate him as a batsman at FC level, but long term against Australia, South Africa & India I don't see him as being a 45 average player, or possibly even a 40.

His stats are good atm, but that's largely because of playing the West Indies who's bowlers aren't exactly the fearsome foursome nowadays.

Unless he has a complete shocked in the tests vs WI, he'll play in the Ashes. That'll be the real test.




Ouch.

Agreed. Prior doesn't look anything like a 40+ average man in test cricket to me, at least not against the top sides. Average of 23 in 5 tests against India is a lot more revealing. Bring back Read!

 

[aussie]

Haa, some crazy Prior bashing going on here..

 

[chris.hinton]

Chris Woakes is a great talent who i think will play for England but i dont think he should at present as he only 20 and needs more bowling time. I have played in the same side as Chris Woakes when he was 13/14 and he is a top lad a natual talent with the ball.

I wish him all the best