FILE PHOTO: Cricket - International Test Match Series - Fifth Test - England v India - Kia Oval, London, Britain - August 4, 2025 England's Chris Woakes Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs/File Photo
(Reuters) -Chris Woakes looks unlikely to return to the England test set-up after team director Rob Key said the 36-year-old all-rounder, who missed out on selection for the Ashes series, was not in their plans for the future.
Woakes suffered a dislocated shoulder against India at The Oval last month and was racing to prove his fitness before the Ashes in Australia, which begins in Perth on November 21.
However, he was not included in the 16-man list announced on Tuesday and Key said the injury had come at a bad time.
"In cricket terms, the timing of it as much as anything else, and the chance of recurrence for the immediate future for Chris Woakes," Key told reporters on Wednesday.
"He was running out of time to be ready for the start for the Ashes. And then once you get out of an Ashes series, you're often looking at the next cycle, really. So Chris Woakes isn't in our plans at the minute, at all."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
