“I Wouldn’t it be possible to live on my own if I didn’t try, “said Chris Woakes, just 48 hours after he walked into a standing ovation in the egg -shaped ovation, left arm in a slingshot, bat in hand, ready to push into the difficulty of a dislocate shoulder to get England the win.
It may have been restrained, with India succeeding through a slim six running to bring one of the most exciting series in recent times up to a 2-2 draw. But the relentless gesture of crossing the border with a potential career – threatening damage means the woakes entered the legend of cricketing – echoing Colin Cowdrey in 1963, Paul Terry and Malcolm Marshall in 1984, and Rishabh Pant in Old Trafford just a week.
“I don’t know what it is,” Woakes said, at home at Birmingham and waiting for further injury. “You only know that you are part of something bigger. Not only do you play there. It’s your team and your teammates, all the effort and sacrifices they put in, the people watching the house and the ground. You just feel a duty to do it for everyone.”
This sense of duty led to the 36-year-old Seamer who was immediately named as a national hero, with praise from around the world and the image of an Armed Batsman of England who created the front news page. For woakes, there is a mix of pride and frustration, the team inside pressing the distance of a massive chase of 374 running and a 3-1 series wins.
“I’m still giggling, it’s really broken, that we don’t get the fairytale. But I never considered it not going out there, even though it was 100 still running to win or whatever. It was nice to have ovation and some Indian players came to show their respect. But any other player could do the same. You can’t call it in nine wickets.”
Going to the bat with 17 running required, the woakes do not have to deal with a delivery before Gus Atkinson bend by the inevitable Mohammed Siraj to terminate a dramatic match. But just running his partner runs – something he doesn’t think about when trying to work how he can take a bath – is uncontrollable, happening four times.
“The first is the worst,” he said. “All I just took was Codeine and it was so painful. Instinct taken here – even with my arm I tried to run like you were naturally doing. I really remember that my shoulder was smuggled again, so you saw me throwing my helmet, deleting the glove with teeth, and checking it was ok.”
It was a serious injury, no question, preserved on the first night of the decider series when the woakes – the single seamer of England played all five trials – went chasing a ball running on the border, only to get awkwardly as he flicked back. A running is really saved but the cost is far away.
“We are chasing every running,” Woakes explained.
“That is always the way. As a bowler, you really respect men trying to save each running. It means a lot of you. So you’re doing the same for the team. And a tight game like that one – only six runs the difference – kindly shows how they add.
“Out of the country was wet from the rain, almost fat, and my hand slipped as I arrived and my whole body weight passed over my shoulder. I heard a pop and I knew I was in trouble.
“The pain came in relatively fast and my arm was just hanging there. It was grim and my thoughts were racing. ‘Is it over? Is the career done?’ This is an awful place to be.
The next sound was extremely annoying, with Anita Biswas, the doctor of the England team, and Ben Davies, the physiotherapist, who spent the next 30 minutes in the dressing room trying to restore the shoulder to the place.
The Woakes remembers: “This is a terrible feeling, your shoulder not where it should be and concerned it will never come back. It felt three hours but the medical staff was amazing.
“I have this vape pen thing that tasted the rank but removed the edge, wise.
“In the end it was just a case of lying behind me and Anita slowly straightened my arm and tried this way. We thought it had a ‘clunk’ but then my pectoral muscle slipped and rejected it. It was scary. Another 10 minutes or more, on her knee in my armpit, there was another ‘clunk’ this, this,
Woakes went to A&E to St George’s Hospital in Tooting that night for an X-ray to confirm that there was no break, before returning to his wife, Amie, and their two little children at Team Hotel. Needless to say, sleeping that night was close to the impossible but he reported back in the egg -shaped the next day.
It was in the first possession of England that day, in the four wickets down, when Woakes first approached Brendon McCullum to say he was ready to go out of the bat when he was called. “No chance, boss,” the response from the head coach came. “Park up and we’ll see where we can get to the match.”
Set a large target on the fourth property, it is clear that the woakes can be called well and thus the preparation to bathe a hand started on the day four in the interior school with Marcus Trescothick, the assistant coach. The first instinct is to try an orthodox bearing, both hands on the bat, and see how it feels. The answer? Not good.
“I defended one normally and, oh mate, it was misery. So yes, soon we worked that a left -Hander’s bearing would protect the shoulder and at least allow me to sort my top hand control.
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And so at 11.40 am on Monday, Woakes walked in the middle wearing the left guard of Jacob Bethell – High Guard and, in the absence of an excess arm guard, a pair of smaller borrowed from Joe Root and Ollie Pope. She helped her with Davies’ whites, while Ben Stokes were attached to her pads for her. Usually to men, Woakes says he is concerned about being a “ass disease” here.
“It’s bittersweet eventually,” he said about the fact that he wasn’t facing the ball. “Part of me wondered what could have happened, to see if I could defend the ball, see a more than perhaps, squeezing a running or carving of four.
“But the other side is: ‘Thank God that I am not facing a 90mph bouncer, one hand, facing the wrong way.’ And I know I’ll need to wear some bouncers if I get a strike.
Like the stokes bowling toe – hunting Yorkers to Pant in Old Trafford, despite India Wicketkeeper with a broken foot, any short ball aimed at woakes will be fair games – the brutal, uncomfortable part of a sport that, bar concussion, does not make replacements. Stokes himself said he didn’t think a policy that allowed them should come in.
While the series was a KEG powder, with the operation of verbs throughout, the scenes at the end showed respect that supports everyone. Shubman Gill, captain of India, made a point to stop to praise the woakes after the match, as his entire team did. The Pant, whose foot was broken by woakes in the fourth trial, returned to India but the pair had since exchanged messages.
“Shubman says like: ‘That’s not a brave belief,'” Woakes said. “I told him: ‘You have an incapacitated series, well played, and credited to your team.’ Both sets of players go through the mill in the series and deserve credit for the show we put on.
“I saw Rishabh [Pant] put an image on me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thankful to her: ‘Appreciate love and hope the foot is OK,’ etc. Then he sent me a voice note saying: ‘I hope everything is OK, good luck with recovery and I hope we meet again there in a few days.’ Obviously I said apologizing for the broken foot. “
The time since becoming a tornado of emotion for woakes and, with him seeing a specialist this week and a full prognosis to follow, any questions about what’s ahead will be wrong. There are some final queries, though: first, who have gone through this suffering, does he think that there should be a replacement of the Cricket test?
Woakes responded: “I’m with Stokesy, to be honest. Playing 18 years, the game is what it is: You lose a player and as a team you need to find a way. It makes the team more resilient and stronger. I understand why people might think that it is necessary for freak damage like mine but many colored places or loopholes.”
And the hailed as a hero? “I mean, this is not the way you want to be news in front of the page-you are early for five wickets or a century. There have been a lot of uprising since but yes, the public love has helped.
“It’s weird to leave from the start of a week of trial, thinking of ‘one last push’, to end up at the table of a physio wondering what the future is.”
Whatever it is – if that is actually a final act of lack of covenant in a career in England built here – the world wants it to be fixed.
