In the halcyon days when England were in the middle of romping to victory in Australia in 2010 and the team gave the impression that they rather enjoyed one another’s company, Andrew Strauss, the captain, was notably sanguine about a minor Kevin Pietersen indiscretion.
KP had borrowed a bright yellow Lamborghini, acquired for him by Shane Warne, and had been stopped and fined for speeding on the Great Ocean Road. With eyebrows raised, Strauss reacted to the inevitable KP question that followed this little incident by saying: “It would be boring if the team was made up of 11 Andrew Strausses.”
It might be a bit boring if the current team was made up of 11 Chris Woakeses. This is not meant to be derogatory in the least. It is just that Woakes is so dependable. He is the model low-maintenance pro who trains hard, who is always focused on the job in hand and who probably drives within the speed limit, probably not in a Lamborghini.
He is a captain’s dream and increasingly on this tour Alastair Cook and Eoin Morgan have turned to him to bowl the difficult overs – at the start, in the second powerplay and at the death. Woakes is always up for it and his reward in the first match in Pallekele was a six-wicket haul, the second time he has achieved this in ODI cricket. He is the only Englishman to do this and he has played 22 ODIs.
Compare him to Ben Stokes and there are many similarities. Stokes has played 37 matches for England in all formats, Woakes 32. Both bowl at a brisk pace, without being categorised as fast; both can bat properly; their international figures are similar. And yet in some ways they could not be more different.
Woakes is unlikely to bang his hand in frustration in the dressing room so hard that his thumb is fractured. He has never been sent home early from an A tour for misbehaving. He is a disciplined cricketer and an improving one. The hierarchy now trusts him. Having been on the periphery for two years, Woakes has not missed a game of any sorts for England since the Test match at Southampton last July.
Woakes is more comfortable in the dressing room now. “Once I got in the Test side I managed to stay in for the three wins against India,” he said. “Maybe it was a turning point; the more you play the more you feel at home at this level.” He is far too measured to assume so but he will definitely be off to Australia in the new year.
On this tour he has been ever-present and he has overshadowed Stokes, in particular. Stokes is far from certain to make the cut. He must be mystified by how complicated this game has suddenly become. He may well be agonising too much. Yet Stokes can touch heights that are probably beyond Woakes: that magnificent Test hundred in Perth or the devastating century against Nottinghamshire for Durham in the domestic 50-over semi-final.
With the ball, when everything clicks there is late swing at a good pace. But he can also touch depths that Woakes will always avoid: three consecutive Test ducks last summer; an inability to land the ball anywhere near the desired spot on this tour.
With Chris Jordan improving fast the selectors would have to display a penchant for Russian roulette to pick Stokes for Australia at the moment. They could just gamble and take him rather than an eighth batsman (assuming Ravi Bopara and Moeen Ali are categorised as such). Given Stokes’s current form that would be some gamble.
So the chances are that Stokes will not be joining Woakes in the England team for the World Cup. But down the line that can change. Woakes’s enthusiastic dedication will always endear him to his captains, while Stokes’s potential brilliance, which is currently so wayward and elusive, will empty the bars and occasionally transform a match. Some day soon there should be room for both of them.
Meanwhile, England have added the Kent wicketkeeper Sam Billings to their provisional World Cup squad, in place of the injured Craig Kieswetter. The International Cricket Council acceded to England’s request to add the uncapped 23-year-old following Kieswetter’s announcement that he is likely to be unavailable for the whole of 2015 after suffered complications to an eye problem.
England have two other wicketkeepers in their 30-man squad, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.
