Chris Woakes, the county pro. Even for the man himself, it’s a title he’s still getting used to.
For more than a decade, he was Chris Woakes, the England all-rounder. Chris Woakes, the Ashes and World Cup winner. Chris Woakes, one of the finest English seamers of all time.
His bowling average on home soil of 23.87 bettered both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad while the only pace bowlers to take more wickets in home Tests at a lower average and better strike rate than Woakes are named Fred Trueman and Bob Willis.
Only now, he’s the former England all-rounder after his retirement from international cricket in September. The former Ashes hero. Now, he’s the Warwickshire all-rounder preparing for a County Championship opener at Edgbaston against Surrey starting on Friday.
‘I’m still trying to get my head around it a little bit,’ Woakes tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘But it’s always something I wanted to do. I still feel fit, I still feel excited to play and I still feel like I’ve got something to give.’
It didn’t have to be this way, of course. As two other legends can testify, international retirement provides a fork in the road. You can follow Anderson’s path, still turning his arm over in the county game for Lancashire aged 43, or you can take Broad’s lead, hit your last ball for six, and never bowl another one.
Chris Woakes called time on his England career in September after being overlooked for the Ashes Down Under. ‘I’m still trying to get my head around it,’ he says of international retirement
Woakes walks out to bat despite having a dislocated shoulder on his final England appearance – a fitting way for such an excellent and committed player to bow out
The thought had crossed his mind. ‘I suppose there was a little bit of me that wondered, “Could I just call it?”. I spoke to some people who were like, “What are you doing?!”. A couple said, “Why aren’t you just lording it up in the franchise world and making some good money?”.
‘But there was another part of me that would regret not coming back to Warwickshire. I wasn’t quite ready to give this away just yet.
‘I walked through these gates as an 11-year-old to play in the old indoor school. To still be here, there’s part of you that never really wants to give that up.’
A conversation with his wife Amie sealed his decision. She could tell he wasn’t ready to stop. Woakes, now 37, is a touch greyer on top these days as we speak beside the nets in the Edgbaston indoor school with the thud of bat on bowling machine balls echoing reassuringly around the hall.
‘At the end of the day, I need to perform,’ adds Woakes. ‘I’m just a player for Warwickshire now, you can’t just rely on the name. I’ve got to be able to put up some numbers as well. I’m excited by the challenge.’
Just a player for Warwickshire yet now a ‘fully-fledged’ England fan, one that happens to be one of only six Englishmen to take more than 190 Test wickets while scoring more than 2,000 runs.
‘It’s definitely different to be on the other side of the fence,’ he says. ‘It’s also a little bit of a weight off the shoulders. I don’t want that to sound like a bad thing because playing for your country is the proudest moment of my career.
‘But it does come with pressures. It comes with a constant grind of having to be fit, constantly working at your game, constantly looking over your shoulder at the people coming up behind you and making sure you’re on top of your game 24/7.
Woakes (pictured in action for Warwickshire against Durham University this week) is now 37, and a touch greyer on top these days
His bowling average on home soil of 23.87 is better than that of both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad
‘So, there’s part of me that thinks it’s nice not to have that on my shoulders.’
Woakes was content with his decision but once the Ashes series started Down Under in November and he watched on from the comfort of his own home he did think: ‘God, it would be great to be there.’
In the end, he was better off out of it. A thumping 4-1 defeat, players accused of treating the trip Down Under like a stag do, what felt like the death of Bazball only for an ECB review to keep Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum in a job but with a promise of greater accountability and more professionalism.
‘Naturally, it’s when things aren’t going so well that things start to come out or get exposed because people look into it more,’ says Woakes.
‘It’s a downfall of their own success because it went so well at the beginning. We were winning games, taking on teams, and it was working and maybe it felt like this is the only way we need to play anymore.
‘We’re in an entertainment business but, at the same time, we’re in the results business and when you’re winning and entertaining it’s the best of both worlds.
‘But then all of a sudden it goes to s***, all of a sudden the cracks start to open. And maybe you think you do have to be able to adapt a bit more. Maybe that was one thing when I was a part of the team, was that we could have adapted so much better at certain situations and not been so stubborn in our thinking.
‘There’s a couple of occasions where, deep down, I probably thought we could have just swallowed the ego a little bit and adapt a little bit, even to get through a passage of play, or get through the day. Test matches can be decided on a bad session or a bad hour.’
A talented all-rounder, Woakes is one of only six Englishmen to take more than 190 Test wickets while scoring more than 2,000 runs
He was named player of the series for the 2023 Ashes, despite missing the first two Tests
Woakes wasn’t part of the side for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in 2023 when England were coasting at 188 for one and, with Nathan Lyon off injured, had the chance to grind Australia’s seamers into the dirt only for Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root all to get out pulling. McCullum’s side went on to lose the match.
He was, however, there for the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Oval, when England chucked their wickets away and were bowled out for 156 in 34 overs to hand the tourists their first victory here in a decade.
‘Even though it’s come to a bit of a head with the poor away Ashes series, I still think it’s been better for English cricket,’ says Woakes of the Bazball era. ‘We’ve won a hell of a lot of series under Ben and Baz. I know we haven’t gone and won those big series, the Ashes and India, but there’s been some amazing performances and wins that I don’t think would have happened if we hadn’t been so stubborn.
‘My downfall probably as a player was that I could have been more vocal and challenged certain aspects at times.’
He does himself a disservice, of course. How can anyone accuse Woakes, a man who came out to bat against India in his final Test match with his arm in a sling, of not doing enough.
Now, though, he sits on the other side, a county pro plying his trade on a circuit he hopes selectors will turn to in finding the next generation of England seamers.
‘There’s a couple of occasions where, deep down, I probably thought we could have just swallowed the ego a little bit and adapt a little bit,’ admits Woakes
‘There’s times where the England team will look after itself,’ he says. ‘When it’s going pretty well, it’s not a completely closed shop but it looks hard to get in. And then there’ll be times, like now, where guys are under pressure, and the early performances in the county season will have a big impact on that first Test team of the summer.
‘I think there’s space for an English seamer. Jimmy, Broady and me have retired in the space of three years. There’s a big, big hole to fill.’
WOAKES’ FOUR BOWLERS TO WATCH
So, who could fill that hole? Here are four English seamers Woakes thinks could bowl their way into contention this summer…
Sam Cook, Essex
‘His numbers are unbelievable in county cricket. I think he’s been treated a little unfairly in that he got that one Test match against Zimbabwe and then just kind of wiped away. It’s hard to judge someone on one game. I think he’s an incredible bowler, still at a good age, and has a lot more to offer.’
Ollie Robinson, Sussex
‘He’s a fantastic bowler, there’s no doubt about that. The attitude, professionalism and fitness side of things has come from the hierarchy at the ECB – and that’s above my pay grade! – but if they are willing to pick him again, there’s no doubt his skillset is high-end.
I don’t know if there’s stuff that needs to be repaired between him, Baz and Ben but if that can be repaired and he can get his fitness levels right, he’s up there with the very best that’s currently available.’
‘He’s a fantastic bowler, there’s no doubt about that,’ says Woakes of Ollie Robinson, who has a Test average of 22.92 but has been out of the England fold for two years
Nathan Gilchrist, Warwickshire
‘He’s a tall lad, about 6ft 6in, who we signed from Kent and has been working with (our bowling coach) Graeme Welch this winter. He’s played for England Lions and has a good ceiling in terms of his skill level and also has pace.
‘He’s got that energy on the ball where it picks up pace off the wicket. He’s generally a scrambled seam bowler but has learned over the winter to shape it and shape it away. I think he’s a really good acquisition for us.
Michael Booth, Warwickshire
‘He was born in Zimbabwe and plays as an overseas but will qualify as English when his passport comes through after October. He’s strong, quick, skiddy. He bowled a great spell at Harry Brook last year up at Headingley where he beat the outside edge three or four times, had him jumping around and then got him lbw.’
