Recognition this summer has finally come the way of Chris Woakes, and not before time. Even earlier this year, he was on his way back to England after an inconclusive tour of South Africa and having missed out on the World Twenty20 squad. Since then, he’s been irresistible. Three days after the end of the Pakistan Test series that made Woakes a star, Phil Walker headed to his hometown of Birmingham to meet up… over a game of snooker.
The scene: A wondrous dive no more than a flicked fag from the Bullring in Birmingham. Downstairs you’ve got your pool, booze, wideboys and widescreens, while upstairs: snooker. Here’s to the life of Rileys on a midweek Wednesday.
AOC had offered Chris Woakes options. A game of golf, a bit of lunch maybe, or perhaps just a straight chat at Edgbaston on one of the two days off he’s grabbed since becoming England’s Man of the Series against Pakistan. And what he’s chosen is this: a bostin’ best-of-three on the baize.
Woakes, of course, is unforgivably good at all sports. He has the right blend of shape, levelness and natural balance to basically excel at all of them. Walsall FC were ready with a contract for him at 16 (central midfielder, two good feet) but it didn’t quite take; he lands a tidy dart; he’s what’s known as a ‘serious golfer’, and, as we know – or more accurately as we know now – as a cricketer, he does pretty much everything right.
But here, fair play to him, he’s gone for cues, balls and stun-run-throughs. “I’ve got a confession to make,” he says over a pre-match eggs benedict. “I used to play a lot of snooker.”
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