I’ll take the World Cup over Ashes
WOAKES DREAMS OF FINAL GLORY AT LORD’S
Cricket’s summer of summers has set england’s players the ultimate parlour game question. Which would you rather win: the World cup or the Ashes?
For chris Woakes, there is little hesitation — and his answer speaks volumes about the game’s changing priorities.
‘if it was a matter of life or death and i had to choose one, it would probably be the World cup,’ he said.
‘Just because World cups at home don’t come around too often and we’re not often in a position like this as a team.
‘i’ve only played one home test against Australia, in my debut series in 2013, but we won the Ashes that summer.
‘ to potentially lift the World cup at Lord’s, the home of cricket — that doesn’t come around very often. the opportunity to do that is too big to turn down.’
Until recently, Woakes’s answer would have struck many english cricket lovers as semi-blasphemous.
But england have grown used to beating Australia at home: the last time they lost was 2001.
And they have developed such a taste for the 50-over stuff that they are favourites to lift their first one-day World cup. For once, there will be more pressure on them to excel with the white ball than the red.
For Woakes, in particular, there is an extra incentive.
two years ago, in the first game of the champions trophy at the Oval, he left the field with a side strain after bowling only two overs against Bangladesh and didn’t play again in the tournament. to add insult to injury, england then made a hash of their semi- final against Pakistan. Woakes, 30, is a placid, pleasant man but he is no mood for a repeat, either personal or collective. ‘if you need any more motivation for a home World cup, that’s mine, having missed out on the champions trophy,’ he said. ‘We’d marked that tournament as a stepping stone in our development and had a chance to win it on home soil. ‘For me to bow out in the second over was really frustrating. i’d done some really hard yards to make sure i was part of that team. With a home World cup, and the form we’ve shown over the past couple of years, you’re desperate to be a part of that.’ Woakes is a father now — Laila was born nine months ago — and cheerily admits the experience has taken the edge off the ups and downs of life as an international cricketer. But there remains a sense of a job half-done, especially after a winter in sri Lanka and the West indies when the conditions and an old knee injury conspired to limit him to white-ball cricket. the knee has calmed down now after a couple of injections and Woakes is hoping that his record at home will earn him not just a place in the World cup side, but also in the Ashes. With Mark Wood bowling at 95mph to blow away West indies in st Lucia recently, the second part of that equation may be less straightforward than the first.
‘We’re all probably fighting for one spot,’ said Woakes at a NatWest CricketForce event to spruce up the disused Marchington cricket club in staffordshire.
‘it’s a good place for the team to be, and it keeps you on your toes. But it’s good for me that i’ve excelled in english conditions with the red ball, so that might give me an advantage.’
Woakes averages 23 in home tests, and is honest about his deficiencies outside england, where that figure rises to 61: ‘the stats don’t lie.’
But an unbeaten 137 with the bat against india at Lord’s last summer will also be in the selectors’ minds, especially as Woakes could come in as low as No 9 in the Ashes, giving england unrivalled depth in world cricket.
First, though, there is the World cup and the last chance, for a generation, for england to win it at home.
And Woakes is damned if he’s going to miss out on the fun this time.
‘You need to make sure you don’t take being selected for granted,’ he said. ‘As soon as that happens, you’re likely to miss out and you’ll be back playing county cricket before you know it.’ Chris Woakes was speaking on NatWest CricketForce day. Get in touch with your local club to find out more.