Chris Woakes condemns 'unacceptable' conduct of England players in new autobiography 'The Wizard'
A career closed in a sling at the Oval
On a rainy October afternoon at Edgbaston's indoor nets, Chris Woakes sat down to reflect on a 20th season as a professional cricketer and a Test career that ended in the most painful of circumstances. The 62-Test veteran, who took 192 wickets and scored 2,034 runs for England while winning two World Cups, has just lifted his third County Championship title with Warwickshire and released The Wizard, a candid new autobiography written with the Guardian's Ali Martin.
The book opens with the bizarre morning last August when Woakes came in at No 11 with his damaged left arm in a sling, trying to help England score the 17 runs that would secure a 3-1 series victory over India at the Oval — the ground where he had made his Test debut 12 years earlier. He had dislocated his shoulder fielding and could hold the bat only with one hand.
"It was amazing to go out like that but, in another way, quite sad," he says. "To walk out in front of a full house, and get a standing ovation, was maybe meant to be my farewell. But it was a horrible moment as well. I had the agony of the shoulder, but there's no worse feeling, especially as a bowler, when you leave the team handicapped: 10 v 11. Not many teams win from that position. That hurts."
Asked if he was scared facing 90mph bowling one-handed, he is blunt: "Absolutely, because in international arena it's dog eat dog. So there was certainly some fear in the cauldron. It would be stumps or head, so I was going to have to wear a few. Your brain naturally tells you: 'I don't want to do this.' But you have to get over that. We got [the run chase] down to seven because Gus Atkinson did fantastically well. So close, yet so far."
Atkinson was bowled before Woakes could take his mark. "In a selfish way I didn't want my wicket to be the deciding one, but part of me still wishes I could have faced a ball."
The cold words of Rob Key
Woakes describes the harsh way he was soon jettisoned by England. He could accept he had not been selected for last year's Ashes tour and that his England contract was terminated, but he was hurt by Rob Key, the England team director, breaking the news in public: "Chris Woakes isn't in our plans," Key said, "at all."
"That final bit felt a bit cold," Woakes writes. "A bit shabby, really." He is too kind to put the boot in again. "I've always got on well with Rob and maybe those words slipped out, not necessarily how he meant it. But he could have easily had that conversation first with me, rather than the press." Has he discussed it with Key? "We've barely spoken since. He's a busy man and moved on to different things. I'm sure at some point we'll discuss it. But in any walk of professional sport there isn't much loyalty because the game moves on."
Stokes, the Ashes and the fallout
The Ashes were, Woakes writes, "an unmitigated disaster," with the familiar drubbing by Australia exacerbated by nocturnal mishaps featuring Harry Brook and Ben Duckett. Those incidents added to the pressure on Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. McCullum was relieved of his Test role while retaining control of the white-ball team; Stokes remained as captain but, after leading England to victory in the first Test of the summer against New Zealand, he and Gus Atkinson were caught up in a post-match fracas with members of the Saracens rugby academy, breaking a curfew meant to curb such skirmishes. Stokes then looked exhausted as he announced his unexpected retirement from international cricket a few weeks later.
"Being Test captain does beat you up," Woakes says. "We saw it with Joe [Root] last time round. Cookie was the same. We saw it with Ben. He was desperate for that Ashes series to be a winning one, and he probably deserved it. But the game owes you nothing and he didn't get it quite right on that tour. I think that was the nail in the coffin. Although he said he wanted to move forward, maybe deep down he knew he couldn't re-energise himself."
On the day Stokes retired, Woakes was on Sky commentary at Trent Bridge. "It was a very slow day and it got to three o'clock and all of a sudden we heard the news he was going to retire and it became a bit manic. It would be nice to be able to sit down with him and discuss it."
'Unacceptable' conduct and cricket's drink culture
Woakes, routinely described as the nicest man in cricket, says the label obscures the skill and tenacity that defines him. "Ask some batters over the years and I'm sure they said: 'He isn't that nice.' Once you cross the line, you need to find a way to compete and win." He admits he has always had a balanced relationship with alcohol — enjoying a few beers after a big match but giving up drinking ahead of the victorious 2019 World Cup — but warns the game has a problem when boundaries are crossed.
"I'd like to say no, but drinking culture is mentioned a lot," he says of whether English cricket has a drink problem. "Cricket is very different to football and rugby. Test cricket is played over five days, on tours which last for months. It consumes you and people need to have a release. But that doesn't mean they should get in trouble, like we've seen within the England team recently."
On curfews, he is sceptical: "No. You need to give players some freedom and treat them like adults. But it's unacceptable seeing the way some England players have acted." He adds: "We're brought up on alcohol to a certain extent. In club cricket there's a lot of alcohol and it becomes the norm from a young age. The professional game needs to be different, but the sport is so mentally draining it's almost impossible to tell people they can't have a drink. It's a human release."
From sling to silverware
Woakes is optimistic that England have the right Test coach in Stephen Fleming, and pays tribute to McCullum's ability to free up players. His own season completed a remarkable full circle: this time last year he was hobbling from the dressing room, arm in a sling, to bat for England, and on 26 September 2026 Warwickshire sealed their ninth County Championship title with an innings victory over Leicestershire, with Woakes' fit and firing arm later holding up the trophy. For a player who experienced captains as different as Sir Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and Ben Stokes, and coaches from Andy Flower to Brendon McCullum, the steadying presence he provided through turbulent years remains his defining legacy.