GEORGE DOBELL: Woakes suffered a strained quad muscle in the days ahead of the Afghanistan match but England took a chance on him in Perth and he came through his four-over allocation unscathed
Chris Woakes has admitted England took "a little bit of risk" on his fitness in their opening game of the T20 World Cup.
Woakes, who missed the entire 2022 English summer through injury, suffered a strained quad muscle in the days ahead of the Afghanistan match.
But, such is his importance to the side, the management decided to take a chance on him and he subsequently bowled his full four-over allocation. Now, having come through the match unscathed, he hopes to play every one of England's matches in the tournament.
"After the last game against Australia, the rain-interrupted one, I pulled up sore," Woakes explained. "It was just quad soreness. I didn't have a scan, but it came up as a minor muscle injury.
"There was probably a little bit of risk going into the Afghanistan match, but I was desperate to play and they were happy to go with my experience in terms of how my body feels. Thankfully I came through fine.
Chris Woakes bowling against Afghanistan [James Worsfold/Getty Images]
"It's the sort of thing I've had in the past when I haven't played too much cricket and then you come back in. You get a kind of small, maybe Grade 1, muscle injury. But if you look after them relatively well you can get over them pretty quickly.
"I trained at about 70 per cent on Thursday and it was still touch and go. But to make sure I was fit I had to bowl at full tilt on Friday and do some fitness tests with the physios and I came through them fine. In my head, I was good to go."
The management's desire to include Woakes is revealing. They did have other options - the likes of Chris Jordan and David Willey - but Woakes' ability to bowl at both ends of the innings is unusual and underlines his value to this team. In the Afghanistan match, he bowled three overs in the powerplay before returning to complete his allocation with the 19th over of the innings.
Woakes' desire to play is understandable, too. His English summer was ruined by injury so he has had to watch from afar as the Test team, in particular, bounced back to form. And while he would never say it - he's far too nice for that - you suspect some of those injuries were caused (or at least aggravated) by all the overs he was obliged to bowl on those lifeless Caribbean pitches when some of his colleagues were injured.
"You do feel as though you can't catch a break," Woakes said. "You do have that in the back of your mind. But as a fast bowler you are going to pick up niggles here and there and rarely you bowl at 100 per cent. There's always something that is sore.
England had other options, including David Willey (left) and Chris Jordan (right), but opted to stick with Woakes [James Worsfold/Getty Images]
"It's just with a muscle injury you can make it worse and with it being a relatively short tournament you don't want it to get any worse. There was a part of me that was worried about that.
"I'd absolutely love to play all five [Super 12 games]. Wednesday then Friday is probably the closest we've got [in terms of scheduling]. So there's plenty of time for rest and recovery."
England took a day-off in Melbourne on Monday and will resume training at the MCG on Tuesday. With two games in three days, there maybe some thought as to resting key bowlers - Woakes and Mark Wood, in particular - but both men have suggested they would rather play. They may have been encouraged, too, by the life in the MCG pitch on the evidence of India's win over Pakistan on Sunday.
"I'd be surprised if we get a wicket as pacey as Perth," Woakes said. "But if it's overcast and swinging around, I'm more than happy. It's usually hot sunshine and flat wickets here, so I'm more than happy for it to be a bowler-dominated tournament. Hopefully the ball does move in the air, that certainly helps us as a bowling unit. Maybe we'll feel at home with all the rain."
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