Key brings down curtain on Woakes' England days

Rob Key has all but confirmed Chris Woakes has played his last game for England and insisted Harry Brook's promotion to vice-captain for the Ashes is not "an elaborate scheme" to oust Ollie Pope from the team.

- Ali Martin

Speaking a day after naming a 16-man squad to take on Australia, Key, the team director, clarified the selections - not least the late switch in deputy for Ben Stokes - and confirmed Woakes missed out because of the dislocated shoulder sustained during the final Test of the summer.

But with Woakes now 36 and his central contract not being renewed this October, a career of nearly 15 years - in which he won two World Cups and was named Ashes player of the series in 2023 - appears to be over.

If so, the final act was bravely walking out to bat in a sling at the Oval.

"It's been as tough a time for someone," Key said. "In cricket terms, it is the timing as much as anything else and the chance of reoccurrence [of the injury]. He was running out of time to be ready for the start of the Ashes. 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."