Chris Woakes

A brilliant all-round player, Christopher Roger Woakes has established himself as an important member of the England side across all formats. Having made a first-class debut against West Indies A in August 2006, Woakes grabbed the headlines two years later when he topped the bowling chart for his team with a tally of 42 wickets at an impressive average of 20.57. His consistent performances booked him a spot in the England Lions squad and also found his name in the preliminary squad for the 2009 T20 World Cup at home. 

Woakes again made the headlines with a sensational bowling performance for the England Lions against the touring West Indies side. He was exceptional and was unplayable during his spell of 6/43 in the 1st innings. To add to his bowling repertoire, Woakes is a classical lower middle-order batsman who has already made a name for himself with some crucial knocks in all formats. He scored a maiden first-class century against Hampshire and shared a record stand with Jonathan Trott for the 9th wicket. 

On the back of some consistent showing in the domestic circuit, Woakes made his international debut against Australia in a T20I game. He went onto make his ODI debut a few days later and just a week later went onto bag his career-best figures of 6/45 against Australia. He broke into the Test XI in 2013 owing to the injury of Tim Bresnan and made his Test debut in the Ashes at the Oval. However, given the class of fast bowlers, England had at that time, Woakes didn’t really manage to cement his spot in the side. 

He went back to Sri Lanka with the England Lions and appeared in a few first-class games against Sri Lanka A. He was included in the T20 World Cup squad after a freakish injury to Ben Stokes. He was impressive and kept on chipping in with some useful contributions with both bat and the ball. He was brought back to the Test side for the home series against India and soon emerged as a wicket-taking option especially in the limited-overs format. 

He went onto lead the England pace attack in Sri Lanka in the absence of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and returned with 14 scalps under his belt. Woakes had a good time with the ball which included a hat-trick against Australia in the 2015 World Cup but his team failed miserably and failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.

In the Test summer, Woakes had to warm the benches during the Ashes owing to a star-studded English bowling line-up. He did a commendable job in the limited-overs leg but owing to the growing emergence of Ben Stokes, Woakes couldn’t quite cement his spot in any format, to be honest. An injury to Ben Stokes paved way for a Test return and he grabbed it with both hands. He bagged 11 wickets and chipped in with a vital knock against Pakistan at Lord’s albeit in a losing cause. He followed it up with some impressive performances throughout the series. 

Woakes was pivotal in England’s maiden World Cup triumph in 2019 finishing with 16 wickets in 10 matches and also chipping with some crucial knocks at the lower order. Post the COVID-19 lockdown, Woakes played a match-winning knock in the opening Test against Pakistan and yet again proved his worth as an all-rounder. He has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Capitals in the IPL.