HOW WOAKES HAS TURNED HIS FORTUNES AROUND
NOT so long ago, the idea that England supporters might be i mploring Alastair Cook to throw the ball to Chris Woakes would have been met with a quizzical look.
In January, after he had made a mess of a rare Test opportunity against South Africa at Centurion, the diagnosis of more than one seasoned observer was that he simply was not up to the mark.
After claiming one for 144 in that game, his Test record should have been viewed with parental guidance only: eight wickets at 63 in six Tests spread across three years.
It was as if England could not bring themselves to put him out of his misery.
A few months on, however, and Woakes has claimed more wickets – 11, to be precise, with another two still up for grabs – in a single match, taking his record since in three Tests this season to 19 at 13 apiece.
A case can be made for the batting, though not the glovework, of Jonny Bairstow, but Woakes has a good claim to being England’s success story of the summer.
He is one of captain Cook’s go-to men with the ball, a reliable presence at No8 and a generally good egg, the kind who keeps a dressing-room honest.
If it was previously assumed that he was merely warming a seat while Ben Stokes recuperated from knee surgery, it is now inconceivable that Stokes’s return will be at Woakes’s expense. They will play together, lending England breadth and depth, predictability and unpredictability.
When Woakes was recalled for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, the selectors were accused in some quarters of taking a backward step.
Stokes’s place, argued the critics, should have gone to Jake Ball, who has instead made his debut here.
But Woakes responded with firstinnings figures of 7-4-9-3, which he followed with three for 31 against the Sri Lankans at Lord’s. That Test also brought him an innings of 66, helping England recover from a spot of bother. He was becoming their odd-job man, tweaking here,
fixing there. In this Test against Pakistan, he has been allowed to polish the family silver
His first-innings six x for 70 compared with his team-mates’ combined effort of four for 255, and made him the first England player to collect six-fors in both Tests and one-day internationals
And, if he misjudged his role with the bat on Saturday morning, add-\ ing only four runs to his overnight 31 while three wickets fell for 19 at the other end, then he set about righting that very slight wrong with the ball. was The that grumblehis natural swing camein his early days
with no great pace. Australia’s Shane Watson butchered him on his Test debut at The Oval in 2013. Then, when he added a yard or two, he mislaid his movement through the air.
But, an earnest, likeable chap, he never stopped wanting to improve. After working with Graeme Welch at Warwickshire and Kevin Shine at the National Academy in Loughborough, he learned how to harness his front arm to generate more speed.
Earlier this summer, he took nine wickets in an innings against Durham. Something had clicked. The evidence was on show again during Pakistan’s second innings. With the fifth ball after lunch, he found the outside edge of opener Shan Masood. Soon after that, he won a tight lbw shout against Azhar Ali, though the manner in which he had worked over Pakistan’s No3 almost earned him his luck.
When Cook finally gave him a breather, Woakes had taken two for 15 in a 10-over spell either side of lunch cleverly using the width of the crease to vary his angle.
That stint may have explained why the England captain held him back until 10 overs after tea. But, sure enough, when he was finally recalled into the attack, he did not take long to remove the well-set Asad Shafiq, bowled by a beautiful bail-trimmer for 49.
And, summoned for one final blast before stumps, he wasted no time at all in winkling out the dangerous Sarfraz Ahmed for 45 and Wahab Riaz, caught behind off his glove for a duck.
Cue another job for the keeper of the Lord’s honours boards, a superb analysis of 17-6-31-5, and the hugs of grateful team-mates.
He would never have guessed it after that Test at Centurion, but grateful hugs are a sensation Woakes may have to get used to.