I'LL BE NIFTY AT 50

Woakes primed to step up as he hits Test mileston

- MIKE WALTERS

CHRIS WOAKES assumed the mantle as elder statesman of England's attack after Jimmy Anderson's retirement and admitted: "It makes me feel incredibly old."

At 35, 'The Wizard' is suddenly the wise owl in a unit shorn of 1,308 wickets by the final curtain falling on Anderson at Lord's on Friday and Stuart Broad's exit last summer.

He could win his 50th cap, spread over 11 years, in the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday, after taking a break from cricket following the death of his father, Roger, two months ago.

He is making no assumptions about making England's Ashes squad in 2025-26, mainly because his record in away Tests (36 wickets at 51.89 each) is much poorer than at home (114 wickets at 22.04).

But in the short term, as the senior citizen among skipper Ben Stokes' crop of seam and pace bowlers, he might even get choice of ends.