Chris Woakes: The invisible man who has improved by leaps and bounds right under our nose

I look to my left and there is a small flower-vase resting on top of a table which, to my knowledge, has been lying stagnant there for a good part of five years. Yet until I ‘looked’ for it, my mind and my vision, both, somehow, subconsciously chose to ignore it. The same can be said about the gallery to my right, next to my computer desk, which has a bunch of framed pictures. These framed pictures have existed and have been serving their purpose - which is to exist - for a good part of a decade yet never have I ever really paid attention to them to the extent that I’ve been overawed by both their beauty and existence. 

For the Birmingham man has been criminally underrated and under-credited over these past 18 months or so and has simply not been given the praise and respect he’s earnt and deserved. So trifling was Woakes, in the eyes of the management, that he was not in the picture of team selection ahead of the first Test versus the Windies; so trifling was Woakes that it wasn’t until James Anderson and Mark Wood were rested and Jofra Archer got banned that he got an opportunity to be a part of the side in the Windies series. Yet when he did, the right-armer proved that the only thing trifling was the opinion that fans, experts and his own management had on him. 

Both in the second and the third Tests, the right-armer was left with a job to do and on both occasions, Woakes emerged victorious and did so with aplomb. What stood out about Woakes’ performance, though, was the fact that unlike a Broad, Anderson or an Archer, he had no definitive role and had to adjust and acclimatize to the situation: he was handed the new ball in the second Test while in the third, he was used as both first and second change. Yet he adapted and kept nagging at the batsmen with the vexatious line and length of his - in between full and back of a length and in and around the fourth and fifth stump - which helped him reap rewards. 

It is this adaptability Woakes has shown with the Dukes ball that has made him such a potent weapon in English conditions. He’s averaged 17.00, 24.90 and 24.25 in England while opening the bowling, coming in as first change and coming in as second change respectively, proving his non-dependency on the weather and the condition of the ball. A major reason for the same has been his stubbornness to land the ball at an awkward area and aim for the batsman’s pad, rather than aiming to bowl the perfect ball that seams away and takes the outside edge of the batsman. 

Woakes, in the West Indies series, certainly put his hand up to be considered a ‘core’ member of England’s pace unit, at least at home, but he has every right to be miffed about his place in the team not being certain - yet. In the country’s 143-year Test history, only five bowlers have bettered Woakes’ average at home of 22.53 (min 75 wickets) and his strike rate of 43.2 is the best for any Englishman to have picked a minimum of 75 wickets in the country. Even including away matches, where his record considerably stinks, Woakes, with 34 wickets to his name at an average of 21.91, has been England’s third-best bowler behind Broad and Wood since the start of 2019; he certainly trumps the latter when it comes to reliability. 

England’s reluctance to push Woakes is understandable: he is 31 years of age and he is neither as skilled as an Anderson nor does he have the same electrifying presence and potential as an Archer. That being said, however, it would be naive and borderline unwise on their part to not utilize a bowler at the peak of his powers. His away record will certainly remain a black mark in his career, and his quality and versatility will always be questioned over the same, but at home, at least, he might hold the key for England transitioning away from Broad and Anderson and into the next generation, for no one currently in the English set-up understands the team dynamics better than Woakes.