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Chris Woakes is CEAT International Cricketer of week

Even as this is being written, England have made a strong comeback in the second Test match at Old Trafford. They would have been pretty confident of beating Pakistan after their earlier performance against the Sri Lankans but the Pakistanis had a much more varied attack and that took England by surprise. As has happened innumerable times in the past when teams focus their energies and planning a strategy against one player who they feel is a threat to them, it is some other player who comes up with a match winning performance and that is what happened in the first Test at Lords.

There was huge hype about Mohammad Amir making a comeback to Test cricket at the venue where he had been found guilty of bowling a no ball deliberately. For that offence he served some time in jail too but his repentance and serving of the five year ban helped him make a comeback. He also bowled well in the first class game before the tour started so clearly England saw him as the danger man and focussed on him. In the event it was Yasir Shah who got ten wickets in the game and along with Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz bowled Pakistan to a fabulous win. Amir did get wickets but not as many as England were concerned about. Of course nobody can forget Misbah ul Haq's century at the age of 42 and that too in his first Test on English soil and that gave Pakistan a total that enabled them to take a handy first innings lead.

Chris Woakes has been on the fringe of the England team for quite some time now and has been in and out of the team. After his performances in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, his confidence would have been high and he took that into the first Test where he bowled with fire and purpose to pick up 11 wickets in the game and in the process became only the second English bowler to take five wickets in each innings of a Test at Lords. His batting didn't quite come up to the deeds in the limited overs series against Lanka but that is a huge plus as England look to have the kind of depth in batting that can make them a team for all sorts of pitches and conditions With Ben Stokes also looking fit, England will have two all rounders capable of changing the course of the game with both bat and ball.

Woakes pips Yasir Shah to the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the week.

Source: PMG



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