With England hosting the Champions Trophy next summer, their ambition to
win a first trophy in the 50-overs format has again been sharpened. The
New Zealand itinerary, which comprises three matches in each of the
three formats, offers Woakes an opportunity to press his claims in
conditions that - although he does not sound convinced - will not be too
dissimilar to those he would experience in England next summer.
Almost unnoticed, while England were winning a Test series in India,
Woakes gained experience of New Zealand conditions in a brief spell with
Wellington before Christmas. He stood out in T20 with runs and wickets
in two separate fixtures against Central Districts.
"I came out here trying to get used to conditions before Christmas and
get some cricket under my belt," he said. "I hope that'll stand me in
good stead. The pitches here are quite bouncy and generally quite true,
not so English-like in terms of seam movement."
As well as his one-day ambitions, Woakes knows that it would not take
too much for him to make a Test debut in the three-match series, which
concludes the tour.
Scores in a Twenty20 warm-up match between New Zealand XI and England here on Tuesday:
England
M. Lumb c Devcich b Butler 25 A. Hales c Beard b Henry 2 L. Wright st Ronchi b Beard 44 E. Morgan not out 48 J. Buttler not out 57 Extras (6lb, 3w, 1nb) 10 Total (3 wickets, 20 overs) 186
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Hales), 2-48 (Lumb), 3-109 (Wright)
Bowling: Henry 4-0-28-1, Bates 4-0-39-0, Ellis 4-0-37-0, Beard 4-0-33-1, Butler 4-0-43-1
New Zealand XI
H. Rutherford c Lumb b Woakes 9 A. Devcich c Morgan b Woakes 5 T. Latham run out (Lumb) 22 N. Broom b Dernbach 23 C. Munro b Dernbach 55 L. Ronchi c Dernbach b Woakes 12 A. Ellis c Bairstow b Broad 8 I. Butler c Hales b Broad 0 M. Henry c Buttler b Broad 3 M. Bates c Buttler b Dernbach 1 N. Beard not out 0 Extras (1lb, 1w) 2 Total (10 wickets, 19.5 overs) 140
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Devcich), 2-17 (Rutherford), 3-45 (Latham) 4-73 (Broom), 5-109 (Ronci), 6-136 (Munro) 7-136 (Ellis), 8-136 (Butler) 9-136 (Henry) 10-140 (Bates)
Bowling: Broad 4-1-22-3, Woakes 4-0-27-3, Dernbach 3.5-0-24-3, Wright 3-0-30-0, Patel 1-0-4-0, Tredwell 4-0-32-0
Result: England win by 46 runs
