LONDON: 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 Nov 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.”

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2025