England seamer, Chris Woakes has dropped a major hint that he will bid farewell to the 50-over format after the 2023 World Cup. The 34-year-old pacer expressed that playing One-day International Cricket till the age of 38 or 39 would be unlikely for him. Having made his ODI debut back in 2011, Woakes has established himself as one of the premier strike bowlers in white-ball cricket, amassing an impressive record of 160 wickets in 112 ODIs, with an average of 30.23 and three five-wicket hauls to his name.
In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, Woakes was quoted saying, “I would be amazed if I played 50-over cricket beyond the 2023 World Cup. It’ll be tough in India but we have a great team that could hopefully do something special. At the end of that, what the future might look like for an all-format player is that I certainly won’t be playing ODI cricket at 38-39 years of age.” Woakes played a pivotal role in England’s 2019 World Cup triumph, taking 16 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 28.12. In the final against New Zealand, Woakes picked up 3 wickets for 37 runs in 9 overs.
Having missed the 2015 series through injury, Woakes has only been part of one Ashes-winning campaign. That came in 2013, when he made his debut in the final Test at the Oval, with the urn already secured; a decade later, he is "desperate" to be a bigger part of another England triumph. England's next Test series after the Ashes is a five-match tour to India in January-February 2024, where conditions are unlikely to be conducive to Woakes' seam bowling. He has been retained on a lucrative contract with Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20, which is likely to overlap with that tour.
"I've not been picked yet, and I'd never say never; never say no," Woakes said about the prospect of travelling to India. "I don't know if I'd be selected on a tour like that: my away record speaks for itself. I've genuinely not thought about it, and there is a lot to come before that. "When asked if he would accept never playing another Test overseas if it meant playing another two home summers, Woakes said: "I would be happy with that, yeah, for a few different reasons. As much as I'd love to go to India and take 30 wickets in the series, it's highly unlikely. You get to my age and start thinking, 'How can I prolong my career?'"
Woakes struggled badly in his most recent Test tour, taking 5 wickets at a poor average in the Caribbean in March 2022 and sustaining a knee injury which ruled him out of the following summer. "I don't want to go to India and do what I did in the Caribbean before, and lose a year's worth of cricket because of it. You learn from your mistakes and learn from past experiences; it'd be daft for me to do that."
