Chris Woakes’s quiet winter revival offers England hopeful pointers | Chris Stocks

When the awards are handed out at the end of this series victory for England in South Africa, Chris Woakes is unlikely to be at the front of the queue. Yet this ultimate team man probably would not have it any other way.

While Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and the rest of England’s big names rack up thousands of column inches, Woakes flies under the radar, plying his trade without ego in the quiet pursuit of excellence.

This is a player about whom Ashley Giles, the former Warwickshire coach who is now England’s director of cricket, once said: “If I could clone anyone I’ve worked with, it would be Chris Woakes.”

Woakes has been at it again on this tour, patiently waiting for his chance and finally getting it in this fourth and final Test in Johannesburg. The raw statistics of his contribution so far – 32 runs with the bat and two for 38 with the ball – do not jump off the page. Context, though, is everything and for Woakes, this winter must surely feel like a breakthrough.

One of the oddities of Woakes’s Test career is the disparity between his record in England and overseas. On the green, green grass of home he has 70 wickets in 19 Tests at an average of 23.45. Before this winter he had played 12 Tests overseas, taking 18 wickets at 61.77.

No wonder the 30-year-old had been pigeonholed as a home specialist, unable to offer the same threat without the Dukes ball in swing-friendly conditions.

However, despite the small sample size of two Tests, Woakes has undoubtedly improved. In Hamilton before Christmas, during a dull draw against New Zealand, he excelled, taking four wickets on a pitch so flat and slow England managed to score 476 runs on it.

Here in Johannesburg, on a quick, bouncy pitch very similar to what England will face in Australia in 21 months’ time, he produced an even more encouraging performance, bowling with discipline, decent pace and far more belief. He has taken six wickets this winter, but his average of 22.16 suggests he could yet develop into a bowler who could be highly effective on future tours, not least the Ashes in 2021-22.

Chris Woakes



Chris Woakes’s batting ability also gives England extra options. Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP

Before the series in New Zealand late last year, Woakes revealed he was working hard in the nets to find ways of making the Kookaburra ball that is used in most overseas series to move, including developing “wobble-seam” deliveries that would come into play when conditions were offering very little natural swing.

More evidence that his work behind the scenes was paying off came in England’s first match of this tour, when he took three for 48 against a Cricket South Africa Invitational XI.

As frivolous as it may sound, anecdotal evidence also suggests a change in his persona this winter, with those inside the England camp saying there is a correlation between the beard first spotted in New Zealand and a far more aggressive attitude in the nets and in the middle.

What has made his performance in this fourth Test even more impressive is that his tour deteriorated after that week in Benoni, with the Warwickshire player one of the worst-affected in the England camp by the sickness bug that disrupted the build-up to the opening Test at Centurion.

“After the warm-up games, I was hoping to get the nod but it went downhill,” he said. “It has been frustrating. But I took my opportunity and hopefully have done alright.”

As self-effacing as ever following the second day’s play at the Wanderers, it is easy to forget that Woakes is a World Cup winner and a bowler whose performance in the semi-final against Australia at Edgbaston last summer won him the man-of-the-match award.

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His batting ability – he has a Test century and 10 first-class hundreds – also makes Woakes an all-round package arguably capable of coming in as high as No 7 in the order.

If England really are looking ahead to the next Ashes in Australia, what we have seen from Woakes this winter suggests he has more chance of playing in that series than either James Anderson, 37, or Stuart Broad, who turns 34 this year. Indeed, in a near future where both those bowlers might not be around, the time for Woakes to step out of the shadows may be close.

source: theguardian.com