Chris Woakes has been a integral part of England's dominance in white ball cricket. Now the all-rounder has shifted his attention towards red ball cricket giving IPL a miss. After missing the whole of the 2022 summer with injury and watching the transformation of England's Test team under Stokes and Brendon McCullum from afar, Woakes explained that he will instead spend April and May trying to force his way into Ashes contention through performances for Warwickshire in the County Championship.
"It wasn't an easy decision, by any means," Woakes told ESPNcricinfo. "There's still a part of me that wishes I could go because the IPL is a great tournament and financially it could be very rewarding - but I didn't want to make the decision solely on finance. It's a tricky scenario: having just won a World Cup, potentially stock could be high. There are obviously some other players who are likely to go big but I could have been next on the list behind them."I had conversations with a lot of people and some with franchises as well, who sounded keen, which made it harder to pull out. But having not played any cricket in the English summer last year, it's a good opportunity for me to set myself up for, hopefully, a really strong summer with England."It's an Ashes year and I haven't played much red-ball cricket. I need to suggest to people and remind people that I can play red-ball cricket and get through it - both from a fitness point of view, but also to show what I can do to try and have a go at being part of the Ashes." Woakes has played for three different teams in his three IPL seasons - Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017, Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 and Delhi Capitals in 2021
