‘I thought that ship had sailed’: Chris Woakes reflects on his emotional return to Test cricket

Woakes endured a difficult 12 months and even contemplated the end of his red-ball career

‘It’s pretty cool. Amazing feeling’: England’s Chris Woakes and Mark Wood (left) celebrate victory in the third Test at Headingley on Sunday (PA Wire)

Chris Woakes insisted the England dressing room has always held the belief that they can fight back to win the Ashes 3-2, after a thrilling three-wicket victory at Headingley last week.

Harry Brook’s impressive 75 guided England towards victory on Sunday in Leeds as they successfully chased down 251 to win, but it was Woakes and Mark Wood who were out in the middle at the end to see the hosts fight back and make it 2-1 in the series.

It has been a difficult 12 months for Woakes, who was forced to confront the possibility he might never play red-ball cricket again when he underwent a knee operation last summer. The seam bowler was then recalled to the England Test squad for the first time in two years to face Ireland in June but did not take the field, with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum selecting the uncapped Josh Tongue instead.

“It’s hard. It’s quite emotional actually,” Woakes said, reflecting on his journey back into the international Test fold. “You sometimes think the ship has sailed, of course you do. Especially when the team is going so well last summer and I wasn’t involved, obviously I had injuries.

“But I made a big decision at the start of summer not to go to India [for the lucrative Indian Premier League] and it’s days like [Sunday] that make that sort of decision pay off, comfortably.”

Woakes, who also hit an unbeaten 84 as England came from behind to beat Pakistan in 2020, said he wanted to hold on to that feeling in the final moments forever.

“It literally doesn’t get any better than that, I don’t think. The feeling of that roar, the Western Terrace going mad. It’s pretty cool. Amazing feeling. I think you don’t hear the crowd as much out there as you do when you’re on the sides, but it’s just special. If you could bottle that up forever and come back to it, you would.”

But the Warwickshire all-rounder did admit that – if he could choose – he would have hit his match-finishing unbeaten 32 at Edgbaston, rather than Headingley.

“Personally, in my biased opinion, it would have been better if I was doing it in front of the Hollies [Stand].”

For Brook, who became one of the hottest talents in the cricketing world when he burst onto the scene towards the end of last summer after Jonny Bairstow suffered a broken leg, it was the perfect venue.

“Yeah, that’s probably number one, to be honest, especially in front of my home crowd,” the Yorkshireman said. “That’s one of my favourite knocks.”

Brook added: “Ashes cricket is tough, but I went out there with a different mindset. I was trying to be positive. The last couple of innings I’ve got out before that, I felt I was a bit tentative, trying to survive. But I was trying to be as positive as possible and put the pressure on the bowler.”