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The all-rounder Chris Woakes has stated that he feels
“at ease” over not being included in England’s Test team for India,
calling it “a fair decision”.
Woakes has fallen in and joined the groupthink after
battling the image of being a house expert for ten years. Good, wakies at home.
Badly wrinkles away.
Woakes won the Compton-Miller medal for man of the
series during The Ashes just four months ago, but instead of encouraging him to
flogging a 34-year-old bowler’s knee in India for five Test matches, the award
has reassured him of his value to England at home and the fact that he will be
one of the players when West Indies and Sri Lanka arrive for Test cricket in
2024.
“It’s mixed emotions,” Woakes said, a day
out from the start of England’s five-match T20I series against West Indies.
“Whenever there’s a Test squad announcement, you’re always desperate to be
in it. But at the same time, at my age, with my away record – particularly in
the subcontinent – I feel like it’s a fair decision.”
Woakes, the home phenomenon vs the distant pedestrian,
is a well-practiced topic. An average of 51.88 when playing overseas contrasts
with a familiar conditions average of 21.88 when using the ball. Exceptional
results in South Africa in 2020 and New Zealand in 2019 gave some moments of
hope that the pattern would be broken, but overall, the exceptions have shown
the norm to be true.
“I tried to bowl my heart out and really
struggled with my body,” Woakes said, reflecting on the trip and the hope
that missing certain England tours will extend his career by a number of years.
“My knee was sore at the time, I ended up having surgery after that and I
missed six months of cricket.
“I wouldn’t want that to be the same case going
to India, bowling on tracks which are unresponsive to my type of bowling;
slamming the front knee down at 34 is not really ideal when I want to play a
lot of white-ball cricket moving forward. It’s different when that’s just your
sole focus but when you want to play all forms, it makes it a wise
decision.”