Chris Woakes, Birmingham Phoenix's leading light: "It has been a mentally draining summer"

NICK FRIEND AT THE HUNDRED TEAM REVEAL: It has been quite a summer for a man involved throughout – if not in the ODI at Malahide, then in the ODIs against Pakistan, the World Cup, the Ireland Test, the Ashes

Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown. It is difficult to see quite how Birmingham Phoenix might have done any better for themselves as the curtain was raised to reveal The Hundred in a fashionable, albeit freezing, one-time brewery in Brick Lane.

Three men whose achievements have made them synonymous with their counties, two England internationals, a third set to follow this winter. For the trio, the anxious drama of the draft avoided, their fates sealed.

Woakes, a Kolkata Knight Riders import once upon a time, where he played under new Phoenix coach Andrew McDonald, knows all about the tension that comes with daring to enter the wild world of franchise cricket.

In 2017, he was the beneficiary of a £500,000 bid in the Indian Premier League auction. And while there are notable differences between the IPL’s behemoth talent sale and the draft system being readied by the ECB, there is an equally tangible similarity.

“It’s a strange concept,” he recalls of the notion of a player auction, speaking at the new competition’s launch. “I suppose it’s a little bit different to a draft in a way, because an auction is unlimited to a certain extent and people can keep bidding for you.

“The money side of it can get really excessive, I suppose. So, a draft is a little bit different from that side of things. But it is exciting – if you watch it live [as a player], you’ve got a few nerves about it and whether you’re going to be picked up, whether your name is going to be read out and nobody puts their hand up.

“There are those little nerves about that – it’s just part and parcel now. The prices are set in stone here, so it’s a little bit different. But I’m sure, when the players’ names are read out, they’ll be a little bit nervous. There’s no doubt about that.”

Woakes, a fan of American sports – the first nation to truly adopt the draft system across its major leagues, will be watching. He will not, however, be passing on any tips to McDonald – a man he describes as both “a good guy” and “approachable”.

“I’m happy to not put my hand in the ring at all there for that,” he laughs of the suggestion that his senior player status might give him any scope to suggest potential recruits to his boss.

“I don’t want to put my name to it if it all goes wrong! I think the management and the support staff at Birmingham will have had a lot of discussions and have probably got a load of scenarios that could probably happen in the draft and I’m sure they’ve got their players they want to prioritise and want to pick up.”

^{Pat Brown has been signed up as one of Birmingham's two local icon players}

In Brown, Birmingham might already have secured one of the tournament’s prize bargains. He has been picked up – alongside Moeen – as one of the franchise’s two local icons.

While Sam Hain, Ross Whiteley, Ed Pollock, Ben Cox and Riki Wessels would all have had their merits as possible options, the Worcestershire pair of Moeen and Brown – both so instrumental in their county’s runs to successive Blast finals days – are tough to beat.

Moeen comes in at the top price bracket of £125,000, Brown at less than half that figure – his £60,000 deal representing an eighth-round draft pick.

After Worcester’s T20 Blast final defeat against Essex, Moeen, his Worcestershire captain there, said of him: “He’s got huge potential. He’s a gun fielder, he loves the big pressure times and he’s very confident in himself.”

And as Woakes analyses his new teammate, he is equally gushing of the temperament of England’s latest call-up. Nine years Brown’s senior, Woakes is eager to learn off the skilful youngster – “an exceptional talent”, he calls him.

“In such a short career as a young guy, he’s probably bowled not the same amount of death overs, but in a lot of high-pressure situations at the death in T20 cricket,” he says. “Of course, you can learn off him; he bowls different balls to what I bowl – you can always tap into his repertoire of what he delivers.

“His knuckle-ball is probably one of his main weapons. I believe you can always look to learn, regardless of who the player is and how old you are. You can always develop new things.”

It is, Woakes admits, the aspect of franchise cricket he relishes above anything else. As well as his time in Kolkata, he has completed spells at both Sydney Thunder and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“I think you can develop as a player and learn new things just by going into new environments,” he says. “That’s what I’ve enjoyed most from playing franchise cricket.

“Having experienced things like the IPL and Big Bash, it’s exciting going into a new dressing room. Obviously, we spend a lot of time in England dressing rooms and county dressing rooms. You get used to the way that things work.

“To be playing with the best players in the world against each other is really exciting. I don’t think the fact that it’s another format really affects us too much other than that it’s great to be a part of.

“It’s going to be a little bit different and it might take teams a little bit of time to work out strategies, but I’m a bit of a badger on that side of things, so I’m quite excited about the tactics side of the game and how that will work.”

^{Chris Woakes played a fundamental part in the success of England's summer}

First, however, one senses that Woakes would appreciate something resembling a break from it all.

It has been quite a summer for a man involved throughout – if not in the ODI at Malahide, then in the ODIs against Pakistan, the World Cup, the Ireland Test, the Ashes.

“It has been a mentally draining summer – I think more so than we’ve ever been involved in before,” he admits.

“The lead-up to the World Cup was really intense; guys playing for places, wanting to be a part of that team moving forward; then getting to the World Cup and being tipped as favourites, there was that little bit of extra pressure.

“Having a bit of a hiccup in the middle and thinking we might get knocked out, so to turn it on when we did was fantastic. It’s just been mentally draining.

“Physically, I feel pretty good – I know the guys physically feel pretty good. We’re used to playing quite a lot of cricket nowadays. But I think from the mental side of things, it has been up there with the most draining summers of all time, really.”

The reward for it all? England’s ODI player of the summer at the PCA Awards. In the summer of all summers, it is quite a gong. It was a category not short on candidates. For many, Woakes may well not have been among them. Not that it concerns one of the country’s most understated, efficient cricketers.

“I feel like I always go under the radar, so it doesn’t bother me, to be honest,” he adds with a chuckle.

“The beauty of our team is that everybody does their role well. Everyone knows their roles and they execute it. We obviously have X-Factor players and they perform very well, but I think we’ve got important cogs in the wheel throughout.

“Jofra Archer has been fantastic since he’s come into the team – for a young guy who hadn’t played international cricket before, to come in and do as well as he has is just phenomenal. I’m sure his career is going to go from even higher to ceilings that we don’t even think that he can reach.

“I think we’ve got important players throughout the team – a lot of our players probably are underrated, but I think that is a good place to be.”

At the end of this year of all years, he’s not wrong.

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