England should drop Chris Woakes for overseas tours, says Boycott

England should move on from all-rounder Chris Woakes for overseas tours, former England batter Geoffrey Boycott said on Monday. Woakes came in for heavy punishment in the first innings of the drawn first Test between England and West Indies in Antigua, conceding 88 runs and taking one wicket. He also failed to impress with the ball in England's 4-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia, taking six wickets at an average of 55.33 across three matches.

"For a long time now England cricket lovers have seen for themselves that Woakes is not a wicket-taking bowler on tour. Move on," Boycott wrote in the Daily Telegraph. "In England, with the Dukes ball and bowling in our seamer-friendly conditions, he is very good and his wickets cost 22 runs.

Outside England his wickets cost 54. "With figures like that he is bowling the opposition batsmen in, not out. I get the fact he is a nice lad and can get runs down the order but bowlers should be picked to take wickets and batsmen to make runs." Boycott also suggested that the 33-year-old Woakes' inclusion in the squad was contrary to Andrew Strauss's call for "new faces" in the England set-up.

"By leaving James Anderson and Stuart Broad at home Strauss said this was the tour to give an opportunity to new guys and find out if they can step up to Test match cricket," Boycott said. "Really? "We will not learn anything about Saqib Mahmood while he sits on his backside in the dressing room, carrying drinks and bowling in the nets. England should stop wasting time on Woakes and show some forward thinking." The second Test begins in Barbados on March 16 and will be followed by a game in Grenada (March 24-28).