Woakes bowling like someone who belongs – Broad

There is an oddly long list of gadgets that were invented in Birmingham – it includes the microwave over, the electric kettle and the pacemaker – but if England could use one of them, the photocopier, to produce a facsimile of Ben Stokes to run out at Edgbaston, they undoubtedly would.

Stokes’ absence from the side, after tearing his right calf while bowling in the second Investec Test at Old Trafford, forces England to make a change that could threaten the balance of their side. With no batsmen added to the squad, England will call on either Steven Finn or Jake Ball to replace Stokes unless the Edgbaston pitch looks especially spin friendly, in which case Adil Rashid may get another opportunity to perform at Test level.

Any of these options undoubtedly weakens England’s batting line up which, with three out of the top five batsmen struggling to make runs this summer, has relied heavily on Alastair Cook and Joe Root to shore up their innings. But it’s with the ball in hand that Stokes will be more sorely missed, according to Stuart Broad.

“The way he likes the game to move forward, you need players like that in your team,” said Broad. “If Cookie and Rooty continue their form he’s probably more of a loss with the ball, because he’s not needed [with the bat].”

“He does change the dynamic slightly. He bats at six and he’s your fourth seamer but he’ll be replaced by a spinner or a frontline seamer so he does give a bit more depth in the batting. We do bat a long way down so that’s not too much of a worry.”

While some may have considered Chris Woakes to be a slightly faded facsimile of Stokes before the start of the summer, he has proved to be as useful a Birmingham product as the microwave oven.

After coming into the side as a straight replacement when Stokes was injured during the Sri Lanka series, Woakes has made …

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