From 'team man' to poster boy - Woakes finally commands the spotlight

It was at the end of the 81st over when Ben Stokes went over to speak to Chris Woakes.

Woakes had just bowled his eighth over on the spin from the Pavilion End since the rain break, and the England captain figured it was time for a rest. It was also time for Stuart Broad to put the bow on a glittering career.

Broad did, of course - confirming legacy and status, bowing out with an Ashes victory and a 2-2 scoreline with the final two dismissals. But by the time he came on to give his figures a facelift, Australia were groggy off the back of "one of those" Woakes spells. Nagging accuracy, swing, jag and surprising menace from a man who is more likely to sincerely ask how your wife and, importantly, your kids are.

Steve Smith was dragged across and nicked off low to Zak Crawley at second slip. Mitchell Starc fooled from over the wicket, for the same result. There's not much Starc could have done, far better left-handed batters have fallen victim to Woakes's "old-fashioned" approach given he does not bowl to southpaws from round the wicket. Like openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja, whose 140 stand had a target of 384 looking small fry, before Woakes lifted one off a length to the former and nipped one into the latter's front pad to see them both off in the space of eight deliveries.

Typical of Stokes as a leader, he wanted Woakes to know just how impactful he had been. "When he stopped bowling, I just said 'you've been a massive reason we're in this position right now'," Stokes revealed in his press conference. How did Woakes take it? "He wasn't having a bar of it, he just said 'let's finish the job and get it done'."

You do not need to know Woakes to appreciate that was a very Woakes reaction to a very correct assessment. During the presentations, when the 34-year-old was asked how he would rank this performance at the Kia Oval, of 3 for 61 and 4 for 50, along with a handy 36 in the first innings, he ended up talking about Broad. The reason he was up there talking at all? He was both Player of the Match and Player of the Series, despite only playing three of five Tests.

He took 19 wickets at 18.15, coming in to offer a cutting edge that had been lacking. Of his 79 runs, none were more important than the unbeaten 32 that took England to a crucial victory at Headingley. One which picked them up the floor after defeats at Edgbaston and Lord's, and brought back a public who were starting to turn.

Of equal importance was one of the most talented cricketers of his generation finally getting his moment in the sun. So much of Woakes' story is about selflessness and reverence without actually ever actually getting his flowers. A case in point - his first introduction with the ball this series came up the hill at Headingley, an end which he hates but was never going to complain about because it would allow others to have a go from the better end, and someone had to do it. Even this match, he came in with a quad issue but decided to suck it up and play because sitting out might have altered the balance of the team. If there's a burned piece of toast going, expect him to take it.

And yet a player who has seemingly endured nothing but pain against Australia in whites, ticked off a few personal glories. He struck the winning runs in the third Test, then took 5 for 62 at Emirates Old Trafford in the fourth for a maiden five-wicket haul against Australia in 14 caps. He even adopted Broad's bunny by nabbing Warner four times in a row. According to CricViz's expected wickets model, the eight-over spell at The Oval was the most threatening by any bowling throughout the series. His career average with the ball is also now down to 29.13.