After his heroic exit from Test cricket, Chris Woakes is now venturing full time into franchise cricket. After a stint at the ILT20, Woakes is playing for the Sylhet Titans in the BPL, alongside long-time England teammate Moeen Ali, among others. ESPNcricinfo caught up with Woakes on the day before his first appearance in the BPL on January 20.
How's life as a franchise cricketer?
Yeah, it's um, it's obviously different to being an international player. There is a lot more time to pick and choose where you want to play and stuff like that. I've been to Bangladesh many times [but] it is obviously a new experience for me being a part of BPL, so excited to be a part of the Sylhet team.
How's your shoulder? You played the ILT20 in December. Was there ever a chance that you'd be available for the Ashes?
As soon as I made my statement of retiring, I'd made my decision. I was kind of happy to make that decision, regardless of what happened with regards to injury and recovery. But I recovered probably a little bit quicker than I expected. I expected it to probably cause me a few more issues than it did. I worked hard on recovery and fitness so to get back was pleasing. Once I made my decision, I was never going to go back on that.
Seeing the Australian wickets, did it make you feel a little bit…
A little bit, a little bit. I have been to Australia many times but I have not bowled on wickets like that. So, it is a bit of a shame that I missed that one. But that's the way it goes, and the game has changed a little bit, and certainly the wickets have changed in Australia, definitely.
Was that the proudest moment of your career when you went to bat at the Oval?
Obviously it was a proud moment or whatever, looking back on it, but at the time, I didn't think like that. I just thought, how can I help the team to try and win the Test match?
You put a lot of hard work into winning Test matches and Test series and obviously that Test series came down right to the wire, so it would have been nice to have been able to get the win. But there was never really a doubt in my mind that I was going to do it. So I look back on it now and I'm glad that I did. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I'd just decided not to bat.
You have that tag that you are a team-first guy throughout your career. How did that come about in Chris Woakes?
The way my father and mother brought me up as a young child and sportsman was always to just leave everything out on the field, always try your best for the team, whatever happens. Generally, if you're doing that, you're doing well for yourself anyway. So, that always kind of comes along with it. So, it was the way I was brought up and I played with good people who always instilled those values into me, so it's always been the same.
Your performances at the 2019 World Cup, and your many successes at Lord's. Which of these do you rate higher?
Winning the 2019 World Cup was career-defining, really. You want to, as an international player, play in the big games, big moments. Winning the World Cup at home was as special as it comes.
Mo [Moeen Ali] was among that team as well, and there's a group of players that played together from 2015 onwards. We grew as a team and built towards that 2019 World Cup. It felt like that was a career-defining moment for the team, and some of the players within that team, to make sure we won that competition, and thankfully we did.
How different is winning an Ashes Test than say, winning the World Cup?
Obviously white-ball cricket is very different to red-ball cricket. It gives different feelings and emotions. Test cricket is part of my DNA. I watched Test cricket as a young boy. That's what got me into the game. That's what I watched all the time, and obviously it's very different now.
A lot of young players will watch a lot more white-ball cricket, but the majority of the cricket that I watched was Test cricket, so that's what I grew up on. That's what my father built the game around. That's what he watched and loved. So there was more meaning to playing Test matches than white-ball cricket for England. Winning trophies is what it's all about at the end of the day, but winning Test matches was just as important.
It was the pinnacle for you and a lot of the English boys, but your ODI journey changed the format forever, and to some extent Test cricket as well.
The journey is what we look back on with the most admiration. We came from such a low place in 2015. We were not very good at ODI cricket. We got knocked out by Bangladesh.
Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss took over. They changed the whole mindset of the style of cricket we wanted to play. I feel like it did change ODI cricket a little bit. Teams were coming a lot harder, always looking for 300-350, 400-plus scores. Never looking to just sit in, always looking to be aggressive and put bowlers under pressure. That was kind of the mantra.
Don't forget we had some bad performances, but I think that helped us realize how we needed to play. Along that journey, we beat everyone, which was such a cool experience. I think we won here in Bangladesh, which is one of the hardest teams to come and play in home conditions. I think that was the most amazing thing about that team. We went everywhere, and won. We were the No. 1 team in the world.
How was it playing with two of the greatest Test bowlers in history, Anderson and Broad?
Yeah, it was amazing. I have pretty much played my whole career with them, apart from the back end. I have probably played about ten Test matches without them. So most of the time it was either one of them in the team with me. So, pretty crazy really to have had the experience to lean on their knowledge.
Sometimes it meant that I probably didn't play because those two were around, but I learned so much from sharing experiences with them and talking about bowling with them. Seeing how they train. Watching Jimmy up close. He was an idol of mine, the way he swung the ball. So it was really like learning on the job. Being able to learn from those guys. I always look back at that and think, Jimmy played 180 Test matches, Broady 160. To do that as a fast bowler in Test match-cricket, it's just … honestly, I don't know how they did it. Incredible.
The previous era of English fast bowlers didn't have such longevity. What changed, was it medical science or training?
Jimmy and Broady in particular, from about 2015 onwards, didn't play white-ball cricket, so they focused solely on Test cricket. I think that prolonged their careers. Both were very professional guys who looked after their bodies. They trained hard in the gym.
I think a lot of younger guys nowadays probably don't bowl enough. (Bowlers like Broad and Anderson) had their bodies get used to bowling a lot of the time, and that that helped them throughout their career. They didn't break down as much, whereas I think younger guys now, they probably don't play as much as they need to, especially Test or first-class cricket, for their body to learn how much they need to be able to tolerate fast bowling.
Would you be interested to work with the new England boys. How do you think they shaped up in that series in Australia?
It didn't go really well in Australia obviously. I think we had the team to be able to compete. The guys are extremely talented. I think maybe going to Australia for the first time for a lot of them, maybe they got exposed a little bit to the conditions. Then you realize that you have to back it up, day after day after day. They didn't win those key moments. I think, particularly as a bowling attack, they probably didn't quite have the experience and the know-how to perform on those surfaces.
But yeah, I'd love to [be involved with England]. I still want to play for at least a couple more years, particularly franchise opportunities and a bit of county cricket. In the future that's something which might excite me [to be involved].
Do you see Baz [McCullum] and Bazball both continuing?
I think so. I think it'd be daft to rip it up and start again. We have done so many good things over the last three years. We won some extremely exciting Test matches. I think people forget that, before they took over, we were a pretty poor side. We were not winning games of cricket. I think at the same time now, obviously we've had a poor series in Australia and haven't got quite over the line in the big series, but they're close. To rip it up now would be a bit daft.
You think Joe Root will overtake Sachin Tendulkar's record?
I mean, he's certainly got a chance. I hope so for Joe, because obviously he's a friend of mine and I've watched him go about his business. He's a world-class operator. He's done it across all conditions. Longevity is the most special thing in my eyes. To be able to consistently improve. People nowadays are constantly looking at ways to expose you.
To be able to continue to do that and perform is just pretty special. I'd like to see him do it. Obviously, he's got to have a couple of pretty good years, but on current form, there's no reason why not.
You have played under many England captains, including Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, and now Ben Stokes. How different are they from each other?
I can definitely say the best Test captain I've worked under is Ben (Stokes), and then the best white-ball captain I've worked under is Eoin (Morgan). I had some really good years with Eoin, who was a huge part of the journey that I talked about, both as a player and as a captain. He was instrumental in us getting to where we needed to go, both with tactics or his calmness under pressure. The way he spoke to the team, the way he delivered messages. He was very clear and always composed. I always enjoyed him on and off the field.
I have enjoyed the fact that Ben is always looking to be aggressive. He is always looking to be on the front foot. He tests you as a bowler to make sure that you do what you want to do. He's not just throwing you the ball and saying do what you want. He's pretty clear on what he wants to do.
Who is the best batter you bowled to?
The best batter in Test cricket would be… Steve Smith. He is just so hard to get out. He is really unique. What I found was that, for an away-swing bowler like myself, he would always miss my best ball. Or if he nicked it, it almost hits his back leg and the ball would just drop down. I'm like, well, that's my best ball. He was quite hard to get out. I always felt the only way to really get him out was lbw. I have bowled to some great players, obviously Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.
From a white-ball perspective, the one that gave you the most fear was AB de Villiers. It was unbelievable what he could do. He could just take a game away from you like that. I think the most the worrying thing for an international player is being made to look silly. He can make you look silly.