England’s Chris Woakes and Mark Wood remain keen to play in every T20 group game in Australia

The Twenty20 World Cup was still catching its breath on Monday after Virat Kohli’s stunning masterclass while England wrestled with a rotation dilemma ahead of their ‘local derby’.

Kohli and India provided enough drama in their last-ball victory over Pakistan at the MCG on Sunday to last a whole tournament. Now England’s task tomorrow is to ensure they do not add to the excitement by losing to an Ireland side they really should be far too good for.

To that end England must decide if they can risk throwing Mark Wood and Chris Woakes into the fray against the Irish given they meet Australia here just 48 hours later.

Both have had more than their share of injuries and Woakes looked sure to miss Saturday’s opening victory over Afghanistan with a thigh problem before being passed fit and playing his role in a win that owed more to the bowlers than the bat.

Wood insisted on Sunday he was good to go tomorrow and Woakes yesterday joined him in declaring his determination to play all five group games, after shaking off a problem that had looked certain to delay his World Cup entrance.

‘I pulled up sore after the last game we had against Australia and it wasn’t looking great until I turned the corner the day before the game,’ said Woakes, whose summer was ruined by injuries to his knee, shoulder and ankle.

‘There was a little bit of risk going into the Afghanistan game but I was desperate to play and they were happy to go with my lead in terms of how I felt. I’m absolutely fine now and I just need to get my recovery right ahead of Wednesday.’

When it looked as though Woakes would miss out his mind did go back to his wasted summer after coming home from England’s tour of the Caribbean in urgent need of repair.

‘You feel at times you can’t catch a break,’ he said. ‘But as a fast bowler you are going to pick up niggles and rarely do guys bowl at 100 per cent. 

‘It’s just with a muscle injury you don’t want to make it any worse, especially as this is such a short tournament. There was a part of me that was worried about that but thankfully it cleared up relatively quickly.’

Now the question is whether England give Woakes and Wood a breather before a game on Friday that could see England knock Australia out of their own tournament after the hosts’ initial thumping by New Zealand.

‘I feel in a good place and I’d love to play in all our games,’ said Woakes. ‘Playing on Wednesday and then Friday is the closest we have got between games so other than that there will be plenty of time for rest and recovery.’

England will on Tuesday decide if they can afford to rest the pair against an Ireland team who shocked them in the 2011 50-over World Cup in India and qualified for the Super 12s here with a thumping victory to eliminate West Indies.

Ireland lost heavily to Sri Lanka in their first Super 12 game but are dangerous opponents, not least if forecast rain reduces the match to a short-form lottery.

Chances are England will take the cautious option, not least because in David Willey and Chris Jordan they have two bowlers who could easily come in and let Woakes and Wood put their feet up. 

They also have the pace of Tymal Mills if they want to compensate for losing Wood’s speed.