London: Having endured frustrations of a long lay-off due to injury, Chris Woakes feels “incredible” after realising his childhood dream of scoring a Test hundred at the “Home Of Cricket” in his comeback game.
Replacing Ben Stokes wasn’t an easy job but Woakes made the most of his opportunity by getting Indian captain Virat Kohli on the second day and followed it up with his maiden Test hundred as England maintained their stranglehold on India with a 250-run first innings lead.
“That feeling of raising your bat to a standing ovation at Lord’s is a bit of a boyhood dream. But it’s an incredible feeling,” a visibly elated Woakes told media persons after the end of third day’s play.
“I’m obviously just delighted. It’s still a bit of a blur. It seems to go so fast, 30
seconds of raising your batfeels literally like a blink of the eye,” Woakes said. He admitted that he was a bit nervous as he approached the three-figure mark but Jonny Bairstow was a calming influence on him.
“I was probably getting a little bit nervous in the 90s. All of a sudden, you start thinking of three-figures, start wafting at things outside off-stump, which I hadn’t been doing. Jonny (Bairstow) came down and had a word, which settled me.”
Woakes now enjoys the rare honour of having his name on three different Honours’ Board at the Lord’s. He has now completed a treble of five-for, 10-for and century at the hallowed ground.