Chris Woakes Reveals England’s Plan To Attack Australian Batsmen

Chris Woakes, the pacer of England revealed that their bowling plan was just to attack the visitors Australia and not give them an inch as they registered a thrilling 24-run victory over Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series to tie the series 1-1.

They had lost the first ODI by 19 runs as they failed to chase a mammoth target of 295. England defended a score of 231 in the second ODI and the hosts managed to bundle out Australia for 207 as Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, and Sam Curran scalped three wickets each with all conceding less than 36 runs.

Chris Woakes Says Length Is Of Extreme Importance To Create Pressure And Picking Up Wickets

England had scored 231/9 in the stipulated 50 overs mainly due to contributions of Tom Curran who scored 37 and Adil Rashid who scored 35 as they forged a partnership of 76 runs for the 9th wicket after England were reeling at 149/8 at one stage.

Earlier, Joe Root scored 39, Eoin Morgan scored 42 and Chris Woakes scored 26 extremely slowly on a turning track. Spinner Adam Zampa was the wrecker in chief with 3 wickets, while pacer Mitchell Starc picked up 2 wickets. Australia were all out for 207 despite skipper Aaron Finch’s 73 and Marcus Labuschagne’s 48.

“If you held your length well, it was always going to be difficult for the batsman to score freely. We certainly found that with the bat, and then pressure builds and that’s when you pick up wickets,” Woakes told Sky Sports.

“The chances come when you’re building dots regularly, so you’re constantly trying to bash a good length and make sure the batsman is going to play your best ball as many times as possible,” he added.

Marnus Labuschagne and Aaron Finch had managed to retrieve the innings for Australia. The duo put on 107 runs for the third wicket, but England staged a remarkable comeback as the side dismissed Marcus Labuschagne (48), Mitchell Marsh (1), Aaron Finch (73), and Glenn Maxwell (1) in quick succession, reducing Australia to 147/6.

Chris Woakes Said He And Jofra Archer Felt The Need Of Picking Up Wickets As It Will Be Difficult For New Batsmen To Set Themselves

Chris Woakes got the crucial breakthroughs of Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, and Marcus Labuschagne while Jofra Archer dismissed Mitchell Marsh. Jofra Archer had also managed to get the wickets of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis up at the top. Australia were cruising at 144/2 in the 31st over but were soon reduced to 147/6 in 35th over mainly due to accurate bowling from Man of the Match Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes. Sam Curran also bowled well as the trio picked up 3 wickets each.

Talking about Australia’s collapse from 144/2 to 147/6, Woakes said: “At that point, we were just thinking attack, attack, attack. Try and get as many wickets as possible. We used cross-seam quite a bit to get that ball to go reverse and thankfully we got a bit of that.”

“It was moving off the straight, and we always felt that if we could pick up a cluster of wickets in the middle, it was going to be difficult for the new guys coming in. Eoin bowled me and Jof out, and we sensed that was the moment we had to make the most of the ball going sideways,” he added.

With this win, England leveled the three-match series 1-1. Both sides will now lock horns in the third and final ODI of the series on Wednesday, September 16 at the same venue, Manchester.