England head coach Chris Silverwood, on Sunday, confirmed that pacers Mark Wood and Chris Woakes will be available for selection as the team faces India in the fourth Test at Oval, starting from September 2. While Wood had hurt his right shoulder while fielding during the second Test at Lord’s, Woakes has recovered from the heel injury that has kept him out of international cricket since the ODI series against Pakistan in July.

Woakes played a domestic T20 game on Friday and will be a welcome addition to the squad in the absence of key players such as Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.

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“Both of them have come through fine. Wood was bowling yesterday morning. He will be available for selection and Woakes has played so he becomes available again,” Silverwood said a day after England’s series-levelling win over India at Leeds.

“It is very pleasing that we have Chris Woakes returning to the Test squad. He has bowled well over the past week with Warwickshire without any real concerns with his heel injury. He is an asset we have been missing both with the ball and his ability to score runs in the middle order. We are looking forward to seeing him prepare at the Oval as we go into back-to-back Tests,” he added. 

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Silverwood said that Wood has been making ‘excellent’ recovery. 

“He bowled in the middle on the last day at Headingley with our bowling coach Jon Lewis and was starting to get through his spells pain-free. For the first time in this series, it is pleasing to have several options with our bowling stocks as we approach the latter stages of the series.”

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Wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler could miss the remaining two Tests to attend the birth of his second child and when that happens, Jonny Bairstow will be back behind the stumps.

Is Bairstow up for the job? “Yes, I am confident that Jonny can do the job if asked and yes Jonny would want to do the job if asked. We have had already had those conversations. He is happy to do that,” the coach added.

The fourth Test begins on September 2 at the Oval.