Chris Woakes said it was his “duty” to go out and bat with his team in trouble during the Oval Test, a dislocated shoulder notwithstanding.
Woakes came out with his left hand wrapped in a sling and tucked inside his sweater at the fall of the penultimate wicket. It ultimately went in vain as England lost the final Test by 6 runs, allowing India to level the series 2-2.
Speaking to The Guardian, Woakes said: “I don’t know what it is. You just know you’re part of something bigger. It’s not just you that you’re playing for out there.
“It’s your team and your teammates, all the hard work and the sacrifices they put in, the people watching at home and in the ground. You just feel a duty to do it for everyone.
“I’m still gutted, devastated really, that we couldn’t get the fairytale. But I never considered not going out there, even if it had been 100 runs still to win or whatever.”
Woakes, anticipating that he might have to go out to bat with his injured hand,
even practised batting one-handed from the fourth day onwards with assistant coach Marcus Trescothick.
“I defended one normally and, oh mate, it was agony,” he said.
“We soon worked out that a left-hander’s stance would shield the shoulder and at least allow me to sort of block with my top hand in control. I hit a few, missed a few, but it felt like the only way to survive.”
The senior all-rounder soaked in the respect and admiration he received for his act, but at the same time, maintained that he hadn’t done anything extraordinary.
“It was nice to have the ovation and some of the Indian players came over to
show their respect. But any other player would have done the same. You couldn’t just call it off at nine wickets down.
“Shubman (Gill) said something like: ‘That was incredibly brave,’” he said.
“I told him: ‘You’ve had an unbelievable series, well played, and credit to your team’. Both sets of players had been through the mill in the series and deserve credit for the show we put on. Both teams wanted the win, of course, but it does kind of feel fair that it was drawn.
“I saw Rishabh (Pant) had put an image of me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thanking him: ‘Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK,’ etc.
“He then sent me a voice note saying: ‘I hope all is OK, good luck with the recovery and I hope we meet again out there some day’. I obviously said sorry for the broken foot.”
Pant suffered a fractured right foot while trying to reverse scoop a delivery from Woakes during the fourth Test, in Manchester.
Going out to bat with 17 runs required, the 36-year-old Woakes did not get to
face a ball but even running between the wickets was painful. “The first one was the worst. All I had taken was codeine and it was just so sore. Instinct took over here — even with my arm strapped down, I tried to run as you naturally do.
“I genuinely worried my shoulder had popped back out again.
“It was bittersweet in the end. (A) part of me wondered what it might be like, to see if I could have defended the ball, seen out an over maybe.
“But the other side of it was: ‘Thank God I didn’t face a 90mph bouncer, one-handed, facing the wrong way around’. I knew I was going to have to wear a few bouncers if I did get on strike.”
Woakes, however, is against the idea of having player substitutions in Test cricket. “Having played for 18 years, the game is what it is: you lose a player and as a team you have to find a way. It makes you more resilient and the team stronger.”
