Chris Woakes has revealed that the reason behind his sudden unannounced absence from professional cricket is due to the death of his father
Woakes' latest appearance in competitive cricket came in February when he represented Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20 in the UAE. He last played for England during their white-ball tour of the West Indies in December last year. He had a mixed outing, taking just four wickets from four games in a series defeat. The bowling all-rounder is not a part of England's squad for their title defence in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
In a social media post, Woakes explained that "the past month has been the most challenging" part of his life: "The last month has been the most challenging of my life when unfortunately my dad passed away at the beginning of May
He added: "I've spent the last few weeks with the people most important to me, my family. We're all obviously grieving and trying to get through what is undoubtedly the hardest moments in our lives. It's times like this that perspective is at its greatest."
— Chris Woakes (@chriswoakes) May 31, 2024
It’s worth noting that Woakes didn't feature for Warwickshire in the 2024 County Championship. After being sold for INR 4.20 crore to the Punjab Kings in the 2024 IPL auction, Woakes didn’t play a match during his stint.
A veteran of English cricket and a part of their successful campaigns in the 2019 ODI World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup, Woakes has represented England in over 200 matches across formats. Given his lopsided home-away record, he was omitted from England’s 2023-24 Test tour to India despite being the Player of the Series in the Ashes earlier last year.
After James Anderson retires in England’s first Test of the summer at Lord’s against the West Indies, Woakes has a chance to revive his Test career as a senior member of the pace attack.
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