Chris Woakes insisted the England dressing room has at all times held the idea that they will struggle again to win the Ashes 3-2, after an exhilarating three-wicket victory at Headingley final week.
Harry Brook’s spectacular 75 guided England in direction of victory on Sunday in Leeds as they efficiently chased down 251 to win, nevertheless it was Woakes and Mark Wood who had been out within the center on the finish to see the hosts struggle again and make it 2-1 within the sequence.
It has been a troublesome 12 months for Woakes, who was pressured to confront the chance he may by no means play red-ball cricket once more when he underwent a knee operation final summer season. The seam bowler was then recalled to the England Test squad for the primary time in two years to face Ireland in June however didn’t take the sector, with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum choosing the uncapped Josh Tongue as an alternative.
“It’s hard. It’s quite emotional actually,” Woakes stated, reflecting on his journey again into the worldwide 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 additionally hit an unbeaten 84 as England got here from behind to beat Pakistan in 2020, stated he needed to carry on to that feeling within the remaining moments endlessly.
“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 may select – he would have hit his match-finishing unbeaten 32 at Edgbaston, slightly 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 grew to become one of many hottest skills within the cricketing world when he burst onto the scene in direction of the top of final summer season after Jonny Bairstow suffered a damaged leg, it was the right venue.
“Yeah, that’s probably number one, to be honest, especially in front of my home crowd,” the Yorkshireman stated. “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.”
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk