Chris Woakes is eyeing a place on England's tours of Pakistan and New Zealand before the end of the year, having led their attack impressively on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford.
Woakes finished with figures of 3-32 on Wednesday as England bowled Sri Lanka out for 236, with the hosts – captained by Ollie Pope with Ben Stokes out injured – reaching 22-0 by stumps.
He took on the role of attack leader after England chose to move on from their all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson, taking his tally to 14 wickets in four matches this summer.
However, Woakes has not played an away Test in over two years and is not considered a shoo-in to tour Pakistan in October or New Zealand in December.
The seamer enjoyed taking up a new role on Wednesday, though, and is positive regarding his prospects, telling BBC's Test Match Special: "I'll play for England where I'm picked to play for England. I certainly wouldn't rule myself out.
"The selectors will have their plans, but I'm certainly not going to turn down a tour if selected. We shall see.
"The more Test cricket you play, you pick up new skills and have more experience to fall back on.
"I haven't played an away Test for a little while, but that might be a good thing because it can give you a fresh look on things. I wouldn't shy away from it."
Woakes also heaped praise upon stand-in captain Pope, adding: "Obviously it feels different not having Ben out there.
"I thought Ollie was good. He probably found himself having to switch on a little bit more than he would normally.
"He communicated with the bowlers well, talking about options and field settings. For an inexperienced captain, I thought he did a great job.
"I firmly feel we've had a great day. To bowl a team out on day one and then be none down at the close, that's always really pleasing."
Woakes leads England charge in dominant day one against Sri Lanka
Chris Woakes led the way as England took control on day one of their first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford.
The tourists showed some fight as the day drew to a close before being bowled out for 236, but England's turn with the bat was cut short due to bad light.
Sri Lanka got off to the worst possible start as England ripped through them 6-3 in the first seven overs, with Woakes (3-32) getting a double-wicket maiden, dismissing Nishan Madushka and Angelo Mathews.
Shoaib Bashir (3-56) kept up the pace after lunch, as Sri Lanka slumped to 113-7, but they soon found their footing.
Captain Dhananjaya de Silva dug deep, racing to 74 off 84 balls, while Milan Rathnayake added 72 before Bashir dismissed them both. Stand-in captain Ollie Pope then ran out Vishwa Fernando to end Sri Lanka's innings.
With the light already poor, Sri Lanka were forced to open the bowling with spin - Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence moved to 22-0 before the umpires intervened, leaving 12 overs unbowled.
Data Debrief: Pope makes strong start
Pope is the 82nd man to captain England in Test cricket, and the 12th this century. Despite losing the coin toss, he could not have asked for a better start after taking over from the injured Ben Stokes.
For Sri Lanka, Rathnayake impressed on his debut after helping to drag Sri Lanka towards the 200 mark - his tally of 72 is the highest score ever made by a number nine on Test debut.
Jayden Seales now ranked career-best 13th on ICC Men's Test Bowling chart
West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales continued his ascension on the ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings as he moved up to a career-best 13th position after finishing as the most successful bowler in the second Test against South Africa in Guyana.
Seales, who finished with nine wickets in a 40-run loss that helped South Africa win the ICC World Test Championship series 1-0, achieved the milestone move, which now makes him the top-ranked Test bowler from the West Indies.
The 22-year-old Trinidadian, who has enjoyed fairly good form since his return from injury, surpassed Barbadian seamer Kemar Roach, who slipped one place down to 18th, as his journey to fitness continues.
Spinners Jomel Warrican (52nd) and Gudakesh Motie (64th), both moved two spots up, while fast bowler Shamar Joseph also progressed 11 spots to 54th in other significant movements for the West Indies players in the bowling rankings.
South Africa’s Player of the Match Wiaan Mulder advanced 27 places to 65th position after finishing with six wickets, while off-spinner Dane Piedt is up nine places to 66th after claiming two West Indies wickets in the second innings of the match.
In the Test batting rankings, former West Indies captain Jason Holder is up seven places to 60th position following his unbeaten knock of 54 in the first innings. He is also up two places to fifth in the list of all-rounders.
South Africa opener Aiden Markram and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne have gained after notching half-centuries in the second innings. Markram inched up two places to 21st, while Verreynne has progressed from 62nd to 46th.
In the ICC World Test Championship, West Indies are last in the nine-team championship with 18.52 after nine matches, while South Africa are in fifth place with 38.89 percentage points after six matches.
India lead the table with 68.52 percentage points after nine matches, with Australia in second on 62.50 after 12 outings. New Zealand and Sri Lanka are the other teams ahead of South Africa.
Meanwhile, in the ICC Men’s ODI Batting Rankings, Scott Edwards of the Netherlands has moved up six places to 26th position after scores of 72 and 65 against Canada and the United States, respectively, in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2.
Aaron Jones of the United States (up 11 places to 56th) and Vikramjit Singh of the Netherlands (up nine places to 79th) are others to move up the batting rankings, while Aryan Dutt of the Netherlands is up five places to 33rd.
Ayub and Shakeel redeem Pakistan on day one against Bangladesh
Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel bailed out Pakistan after a slow start to day one of their Test against Bangladesh.
Rain limited play to just one session at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, but Pakistan eventually made their time with the bat count as they reached 158-4 on Wednesday.
It was a poor start as Abdullah Shafique was dismissed for just two runs before Shoriful Islam (2-30) took both Shan Masood (6) and Babar Azam (0) as Pakistan fell to 16-3.
However, Ayub and Shakeel soon found their footing, adding 98 runs as a partnership before the former was finally caught for 56.
Shakeel reached 57 not out and Mohammad Rizwan reached 24 not out as Pakistan dragged themselves into a much stronger position before bad light brought play to a close for the day.
Data Debrief: Slow and steady
Since making his debut in October 2016, Azam has been dismissed for a duck eight times in men's Tests; only Azhar Ali (11) among Pakistani batters has been dismissed more often for a duck during the same period.
However, Shakeel's introduction soon turned the tide, and he became their joint-quickest batter to reach 1000 Test runs, getting there in his 20th innings and matching Saeed Ahmed's record from 1959.
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