‘Frustrated’ Chris Woakes admits England must improve in World Cup (1 Viewer)

Chris Woakes has openly acknowledged his frustration with his recent performances in England's first two World Cup matches. However, he remains resolute in the team's collective goal of dethroning the subcontinental teams from their dominant positions.

Woakes plays a pivotal role as an opening bowler, responsible for setting the tone in the field. Unfortunately, in both games, his early overs have been ruthlessly targeted by the opposition. To compound the frustration, his opening partner in both matches has performed admirably.

For instance, in the match against New Zealand, Woakes' first two overs conceded 19 runs, while Sam Curran opened with two maidens and claimed a wicket. In the game against Bangladesh, Woakes' initial four overs were costly, yielding 34 runs, whereas Reece Topley managed to give away only 10 runs while securing three crucial wickets.

“I’d like to have gone a bit better,” Woakes said. “The New Zealand game wasn’t great for the majority of us, really. It’s hard to reflect too much on a game where we probably didn’t get enough with the bat, and then the surface certainly got a lot better to bat on under the lights, but I wouldn’t have said that I’ve bowled as well as I know I can.

“Obviously it’s a long tournament, but I certainly feel that I would’ve liked to have bowled a bit better. You don’t want to peak too soon, I suppose. But at the same time, you still want to put in strong performances for the team.”

England is currently in the role of defending champions, a title they secured on home soil in 2019. Moreover, with their triumph in the T20 World Cup last year, many now consider them the team to beat in the eyes of others.

“We’ve had a little bit of target on our back for a while as a white-ball team,” he said. “People have got expectations of us and we’ve certainly got our own expectations of ourselves. It’s an incredibly tough challenge to win in India. I think the subcontinental teams will feel more at home with the conditions, and that makes it extremely hard for us to knock them off their perch. But we’ve got the squad and the players to be able to compete.”