Following James Anderson's retirement as England's senior seamer, the 35-year-old Chris Woakes hopes to play a major role in the upcoming away Ashes series in 2025–2026.

In the previous year's Ashes, Woakes was named player of the series after taking 19 wickets in three Test matches and making some crucial runs that helped England rally for a 2-2 draw.

Ever since making his debut in 2013, Woakes has frequently been overshadowed by the wicket-taking powerhouse that was the Anderson-Stuart Broad tandem. However, he is now trusted to lead the team into a new era.

"I think I just don't rule anything out nowadays. It’d be hard for me to just stand here and say I’ll be the opening bowler in that Ashes – obviously my away record probably isn’t as good as my home. But at the same time, I’ve looked at Stu [Broad] and Jimmy [Anderson] evolve as they’ve got older. And I still hope that I can potentially do the same, but I said I don’t look too far ahead,” Woakes said.

“I’ve always looked throughout my England career as just looking at the very next event, the very next game, the very next series and trying to be in the best shape possible for that game, that series. I think as soon as you start looking too far ahead, you get caught up in it.”