Woakes is returning from an ankle problem he first felt at the end of England’s tour of New Zealand in December. He says it might have been down to a switch in the boots he was wearing, which he has now changed back.
To go straight into the England XI is a contrast to much of Woakes’ career, when he was often competing for the one pace-bowling spot behind Anderson and Broad.
In the summer of 2022, the birth of Bazball, he did not play at all because of a knee injury. Before he underwent surgery, Woakes wondered if his red-ball career was over.
“When a team is winning without you, your first thought is how hard it will be to get back in,” says Woakes.
“I was just worried my red-ball stuff was done and if I could get back to the level that was needed to play Test cricket. To stay on the field, to slam your leg down for 25 overs a day. Thankfully, since then it’s been pretty good.”
Since Woakes returned, England have won 10 of the 12 Tests he has played and he has taken 51 wickets at an average of 21.88. In the same period, only India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Australia’s Josh Hazlewood and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada have taken as many wickets at a better average.
Overall, with 1,970 runs and 181 wickets, Woakes is closing in on becoming only the sixth Englishman to do the 2,000-200 double in Tests and will probably do so as the second-fastest in terms of matches, after Ian Botham.
He is part of an exclusive club of England players to have won the Ashes and both 20- and 50-over World Cups, including Stokes, Wood, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler. Eoin Morgan also sneaks in if you count his squad role on the 2010-11 tour of Australia.
There is a legitimate case to ask whether a player of Woakes’ record and achievements has been underappreciated.
“At some points I might have been, but it’s never really bothered me,” he says. “I don’t see myself as one of the greats. You know what you are. I don’t put myself in the bracket of Broady and Jimmy, or Glenn McGrath or Curtly Ambrose.
“I believe I’ve got the best out of my ability. I’ve worked my nuts off to get there. At the end of the day, if I’m being picked, it’s clear I’m good enough to play for England. As long as I’m contributing, that’s all that really matters.”
There remains the anomaly of his away record, a bowling average of almost 49 overseas compared to below 22 at home. Still, in the past winter abroad, England won the three Tests Woakes played and lost the three he did not.
Questions will hang over the role he could play in Australia later this year but, at the moment, his sheer availability amid a field hospital full of fast bowlers could be enough for a ticket down under. Even if all the bowlers are fit, Woakes should be encouraged by Scott Boland’s recent performances with a spiced-up Kookaburra ball, and the day-night second Test in Brisbane.
