Woakes shrugs off World Cup speculation as he looks for a repeat of Adelaide performance

The 21-year-old stole the headlines on his first night in the England spotlight as he hit a single from the final ball of a tense match to seal a record eighth consecutive Twenty20 win by a single wicket.

Woakes's unbeaten 19 from 15 balls steered England home when others around him lost their composure in a late-innings collapse that had threatened defeat.

But Woakes's calmness under pressure, plus an impressive bowling display that crucially helped frustrate Australia's late hitting, was impressive enough to leave him fielding questions yesterday about the possibility of a World Cup call-up.

Time would seemingly be against him, however, with the final 15-man squads due to be named next Wednesday and the right-armer admitted he was only focusing on trying to earn selection for today's final Twenty20 in Melbourne.

"At the minute I am just concentrating on the game (today)," he said.

"I can't look too far ahead, there's obviously guys who are out injured at the moment who might be coming back.

"The competition for places in the side is very high so it keeps you on your toes.

"I'll try to keep what I'm doing and hopefully I'll be selected for the next game.

"Before Christmas I was only with the academy out here in Australia – so anything that might come in the future is just an added bonus."

Woakes's debut display was also highlighted by his towering six off a short ball from Australia quick Shaun Tait, one of only three bowlers to have been clocked at a speed above 100mph.

Woakes delivered the blow from just the fourth ball of his international career, and revealed he had been expecting Tait to pitch short after the pair exchanged words earlier in the over.

"Obviously he is one of the quickest bowlers in the world so I was just trying to watch the ball out of the hand," he said.

"I was just trying to get bat on ball so there wasn't much going through my mind apart from that to be honest with you. I was expecting a shorter one though at some stage because he had been giving me a bit of lip."

Woakes denied, however, the exchange had over-stepped the boundaries of sportsmanship, adding: "That's just Australia versus England.

"There was a bit of chat in the middle. No one stepped over the line. That's just cricket at the international level.

"You've got to expect that."

England can seal the series in Melbourne today when a crowd in excess of 40,000 is likely to be in attendance.