Chris Woakes makes a disappointing start as England’s attack leader

At least Anderson’s retirement gave Woakes a new luxury: choice of sides. But having opted to open from the Ratcliffe Road End, Woakes struggled to make up for the lack of support from above; according to CricViz, England were getting the fewest new balls at home in a decade.

Paradoxically, Woakes’ promotion might even have undone him: Dukes balls tend to swing more after about 12 overs than when they are brand new, as Ben Stokes said this week. As the first change, Woakes enjoyed this advantage; when he opened the bowling, he was burdened with a ball that barely deviated from straight.

Woakes could be accused of being less accurate than last summer, however. He dropped his ball too short and too wide to be smashed through the covers by Kraigg Brathwaite in his fourth over, and later corrected too far to be driven across the ground. Perhaps most worryingly, his pace remained low: Woakes’ last two Tests were the two slowest of his career.

Such a relative lack of pace meant that Woakes’ tactics with the old ball were the opposite of those of Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood. While Atkinson and Wood opted for short pitches and fields with more than a hint of bodyline, Woakes stuck to his polished approach: hammering at a good length and trying to move the ball in the air and away from the seam.

After England changed the ball for the second time, Woakes finally got a little more help. In a seven-over play starting in the 67th over, Woakes produced by far his most impressive play of the summer. He hit the ball both inside and outside, and it was remarkable: Jason Holder was lucky to have an inside edge save him from a ball that circled back to his stumps. Knowing that Woakes was moving the ball both ways made it much riskier to leave him alone. Woakes created a new geometric challenge by varying his release point from ball to ball to create a different angle for the batsmen.

In his 16th over of the day, Woakes enjoyed his late reward. Woakes hit the ball back to Kavem Hodge, his delivery bounced past the bat and slammed into the front pad plate. The batsman’s review confirmed the decision for LBW.

That difficult day showed why England held on to Woakes: a time that suited his new-found status in attack. It came at the right time for both England and him. As much as Woakes is keen to take the new ball in Australia in 16 months’ time, his immediate challenge is simply to show he can still be England’s man now.