Chris Woakes set to play for Bears against Pears
England all-rounder Chris Woakes is poised to make his first Warwickshire appearance for nearly 11 months in the derby against Worcestershire.
Woakes is part of a 14-man Bears squad making the short trip to New Road for the Rothesay County Championship encounter, which starts on Friday.
It will be the 36-year-old’s first red ball appearance for the county since playing at Somerset last July and his first competitive action of any kind since overcoming the ankle injury which delayed the start to his summer.
Woakes, who has been selected for the England A squad due to face India A in two four-day matches later in the month, will further strengthen a Bears bowling attack for whom Michael Booth is the only absentee.
Veteran Chris Rushworth is again included in the squad and will be pushing to make his first start of the season, as Warwickshire look to bounce back quickly from last weekend’s defeat to Hampshire.
“Apart from Boothy, who will be missing for quite some time, all our seamers are fit and in contention,” said Bears head coach Ian Westwood. “It’s a good (selection) problem to have, at least for this one game.
“The New Road game will be the last for Beau Webster for a while before he joins up with the Australia squad. He’ll be looking to sign off in style. And we hope to have him back for a couple of Championship games in late July.
“Rob Yates split the webbing in his hand taking a catch against Hampshire which he had stitched up. It was causing him some discomfort in our second innings, but it’s settled down now. He’s been batting and should be good to go for Worcestershire.”
The trip to New Road is the last red ball fixture before attention turns to the T20 Vitality Blast, which begins next week.
Warwickshire will be without seamer Richard Gleeson for their opening two fixtures in the competition, after he was called up to join Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
