Chris Woakes has said that experiencing Jimmy Anderson’s Test send-off, at the end of a difficult few months after the death of his father in May, had reminded him to cherish his time at the pinnacle of the sport, and the need “to enjoy every moment” because “it doesn’t last forever”.
Woakes took four months off cricket between February and June, returning to play two games for Warwickshire in the County Championship and another two in the Blast last month before joining up with the England squad for the West Indies series. He took one wicket as England won the first Test, also Anderson’s last, by an innings and 114 runs.
“It’s been a tough couple of months, absolutely,” he said. “It’s one of those things in life that you probably never really think is going to happen until it does. Trying to get back into cricket, it’s been quite hard to focus on the day job but I suppose once you get back out there, and particularly putting on the England whites, it reminds you how lucky we are to do what we do. And seeing Jimmy this week, although it’s lasted a long time for him, it doesn’t last forever and you have to try and enjoy every moment you’re a part of this team and lucky enough to put on the Three Lions. In my case at the minute it’s put things in perspective, and I’m just happy to be here”.
Aged 35, Woakes is now England’s senior bowler, after the retirements of Anderson and Stuart Broad over the last year, though Anderson is to remain with the side, at least for the remainder of this summer, as a bowling coach. Woakes’s record is better in the 18 Tests he has played without Anderson (averaging 24.8 with an economy of 2.79, with just 38.9% of those games played in England) than it is in the 31 games they have played together (31.82 and 3.15, with 71% at home), but he does not expect the loss of England’s greatest-ever bowler to have a significant impact on how he plays.
“Every time I go out there I try to give 100% and try to do my role as well as I can for the team,” he said. “Obviously, it’ll be slightly different if I’m given the new ball, your role slightly changes and the majority of my career I’ve come on first change, so that’s something that maybe I need to get my head around moving forward. Other than that you go out there and still try and deliver your skills. I’ve always felt like whenever there is a new guy coming into the team, you try and pass on a little bit of knowledge and I’ve been around for long enough to be able to do that. Maybe I need to do that a little bit more now, on the field maybe more than off it. That’s probably the only big thing.”
But he did credit Anderson with providing “little nuggets” that have improved him as a player during the 11 years in which they have shared a dressing room. “He’s always there at mid-off giving little words of advice,” Woakes added. “He assesses conditions and pitches better than anyone I’ve seen. The way he talks about what deliveries are working on the surface so early on is just incredible. It’s very easy to think you just pick that up but actually he is the best at doing that. And it’s come across in the way he’s played the game for so long, and dominated opening batsmen. That’s the thing I’d say he’s really helped me with, assessing conditions and what deliveries to bowl at what times. I didn’t bowl a wobble ball until Jimmy started talking to me about it. So that’s been huge.”
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Mark Wood has joined the squad for the second Test, which starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday, with Matthew Potts and the uncapped Dillon Pennington also bowling options, while Gus Atkinson is likely to keep his place after becoming England’s most successful bowling debutant since 1890. “Gus was fantastic,” Woakes said. “Talking about assessing conditions and what balls to bowl, he did that really well and once he got a sniff he really put his foot on the throat, and as a fast bowler that’s a skill you really need to have at this level.”