Chris Woakes replaces Toby Roland-Jones in second Test

Chris Woakes will make his Test comeback against West Indies at Headingley at the expense of Toby Roland-Jones in the only change to the England side that thumped the Windies by an innings and 209 runs in three days in England’s inaugural Day/Night Test.

Woakes was absent even during the victory over South Africa after suffering a side strain during the ICC Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh at the start of June, ruling him out for 11 weeks. The all-rounder was recalled to the squad for the first Test against the Windies at Edgbaston but did not feature on his home ground.

England captain Joe Root revealed that Woakes will play at Leeds, where England will set about attempting to wrap up the three-match series with a game to spare on Friday after a crushing victory in Birmingham.

This change comes in despite the fact that Roland-Jones picked up 8 wickets in his debut match against Proteas at the Oval and 2 wickets in each innings against the Windies. Root does acknowledge that the former took his opportunities and will be considered in the future, but also makes it clear that this is Woakes’ chance to make a comeback.

The all-rounder scored a half-century and took five wickets for Warwickshire in his County Championship return against champions Middlesex and is set to slot in at number nine in the order. He has scored two fifties in his 17 Tests and taken 48 wickets at an average of under 30.

What the captain said

“Chris is back in, Toby unfortunately misses out,” Root told reporters at Headingley on Thursday, as reported by Times of India.

“He (Roland-Jones) has not done a lot wrong at all, he took his opportunities, he’s played some fantastic cricket and I see him being a massive part of our future moving forward,” added Root, who will be captaining England in a Test at his Yorkshire home ground for the first time.

“But it’s a great chance for Chris to come back into the side and show his class like he did last time,” he concluded.

England team: Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, Tom Westley, Chris Woakes.