Watch every ball of the 2019 Ashes live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from Thursday
Tuesday 30 July 2019 11:22, UK
England's Chris Woakes is primed to play a starring role against Australia after serving his Ashes apprenticeship.
The all-rounder tasted the euphoria of home success in 2013 when he made his Test debut in the final match of England's 3-0 series win - bad light denying him and Matt Prior the chance to knock off the 21 runs required to improve the scoreline.
But he was then overlooked for the return Ashes tour that winter and more disappointment followed as he missed the 2015 series after knee surgery and, having fought his way back into the Test team the following summer he took 4-36 at Adelaide in December 2017, only for England to collectively fluff their lines and hand back the urn.
Now, aged 30, Woakes is ready to take centre stage.
"My main memory of my debut is probably the celebrations after it!" says Woakes, who was batting when England secured the draw needed to seal the series in 2013.
"I came in for the last Test match and felt I robbed an Ashes medal!
"It was an incredible feeling making my Test debut, which I'd dreamt about as a kid - making it in front of a full house at the Oval in the final Ashes Test was very special."
Woakes faces stiff competition for a starting spot in England's XI for the first Test on Thursday at his home ground at Edgbaston after being named in a 14-man squad alongside fellow seamers Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, Olly Stone, Sam Curran and certain starter James Anderson.
He bolstered his claim for selection with Test-best figures of 6-17 in England's ruthless 143-win over Ireland at Lord's last week - a ground where he has now taken 24 wickets at 9.75 runs apiece.
Woakes' record of 60 wickets in 15 home Tests means that Broad faces a real battle to keep his place ahead of the Warwickshire seamer despite having taken 105 wickets in partnership with Anderson in the last three home Ashes series.
"We've got a lot of players in the team that have got Ashes experience, which I think is really important when it comes to Ashes cricket - it's intense," reflected Woakes.
"To have that experience with guys who have played it and been there, who have won Ashes Test matches and have won Ashes series is really crucial.
"Also, with it being in home conditions you'd like to think that we've got a slight advantage of knowing how to play our best cricket at home so hopefully those things can work in our favour."
An intense schedule of five Tests in under seven weeks means both England and Australia could each be forced to rotate their highly-rotated attacks and Woakes says that can bring its own problems.
"Sometimes you don't always get the match practice you need," he said. "A five-match Ashes series is a long series; there is a lot of cricket to be played and it takes it out of you mentally and physically.
"The squad, I'm sure, will rotate at times but as a bowler you need to make sure you find some form whether it be out in the middle in practice or in the nets - you still need to find that rhythm because, particularly for myself, rhythm is important to my bowling.
"Guys need to make sure that they are in the right state of mind but also that their bodies are still good and fresh and ready to go."
Opportunity is everything - as Woakes quickly realised after being dropped in 2013.
"It was really tough because I felt like I'd done myself no harm in that Test - I felt like I'd held my own and shown that I can do something at that level," he said.
"But obviously going Down Under is a completely different prospect and different conditions. I didn't hold any grudges, by any means.
"It proved to me that I still had a lot to work on and still a lot to improve to make sure that I could sustain it at that level.
"I went away and worked hard on my action and worked hard on my batting as well, which was something I felt like I still needed to work on.
"To be a genuine all-rounder I had to be almost as good with the bat as I was with the ball, so that was really important for me."
Nowhere was that progression more evident than in the second Test of 2018 when Woakes chalked up his maiden century, striking an unbeaten 137no against India at Lord's.
With runs likely to prove hard to come by in this Ashes series, lower-order contributions could prove crucial and in Woakes, Archer and Curran have three penetrative bowlers with first-class batting averages of 30 or more to their name.
Should either of the duo, or indeed Stone, get the nod ahead of him on Thursday and make their Ashes debuts then Woakes will be on hand to offer this advice.
"Stick to your strengths and stick to what you do best - to what has got you to that position," he says.
"It's easy when you get to Test cricket, not just Ashes cricket, to change what you do and try to be something different.
"But what has got you there is what you've done best in county cricket and cricket before that, so sticking to your guns in the pressure-cooker of Ashes cricket is the most important thing."
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