Heading into the five-match Test series that starts on June 20, England’s already thin bowling line-up is now heavily dependent on seamer Chris Woakes. The 36-year-old veteran of 57 Tests is the most capped bowler in the squad, whose workload England have to manage cautiously. After picking up an ankle injury in the SA20, Woakes returned to competitive cricket only towards the end of May, where he turned up in one County fixture before getting some mileage in the Lions game against India. With Archer, who is set to return to Test cricket after a gap of four years, delayed at least till second Test, even if he regains full fitness, he is unlikely to play all four matches thereafter with Ashes being the priority for England.
With their seam bowling options thin, it would be interesting to see how England skipper Ben Stokes goes about his own bowling. Having undergone a hamstring surgery, Stokes enters the series with not many overs behind him. The 11 overs he sent down against Zimbabwe at Nottingham towards the end of May is the only outing he has had since the surgery. Between July 2023 to February 2024, Stokes had stopped bowling in Tests before sending in five overs against India at Dharamsala last year. Since then he has bowled regularly against West Indies, Pakistan and New Zealand but how many overs will he be ready to bowl against India remains a big question.
It is not just in the pace department that England are short on experience. Even with regards to their spinners, the hosts are relying a lot on 21-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir with Joe Root expected to share the load.
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