"I wasn't sure, I was going to play cricket again": Chris Woakes

England pacer Chris Woakes said on Tuesday that when he suffered a knee injury, he thought that his cricketing career was over.

Chris Woakes was awarded 'Player of the Series' for taking 19 wickets in five Test matches of the Ashes series. He had an impactful contribution with his four wickets in the fifth Ashes series to restrict Australia to 334, winning by 49 runs.

Woakes returned to the United Kingdom with the persistent ailment in his right knee worse than ever after a hectic 2021-22 winter in which he was the only bowler to play the T20 World Cup, the Ashes, and a tour of the Caribbean. When he bowled, the pain was so intense that he wondered if his Test career of fits and starts was finally coming to an end. One that culminated in a disappointing return of 11 dismissals at 52.36 over six appearances under tough conditions.

"The way my knee felt, I wasn't sure if I was going to play cricket again, If I could be at the end of that tour again (Caribbean), at no point did I think I'll be stood here now with what I've achieved. So yeah, it's pretty incredible to think about," Woakes said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

The final four dismissals came on the final day of the series with an average of 18.15, divided between two stints; the first taking out both set openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner, and the second taking out Steve Smith, who had brought Australia to within 110 runs of their target of 384.

"You don't always get what you want and what you're kind of destined for. But I turned down the opportunity to go to the IPL (2023) for a number of reasons, one being the opportunity to potentially be a part of this series.

"At no point did I think I'd be stood here. That's not how far your mind works. You don't think 'I can't wait to be player of the series in the Ashes'. You just want to be a part of it, contribute and hopefully win. So to think that I'm stood here now actually… I think I need to let it sink in," he added.

The series ended in a 2-2 draw. It came to an exciting conclusion at The Oval, where Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, and Stuart Broad, who has now retired, sealed a 49-run victory and upheld England's year-long winning streak in Test series under McCullum.

Woakes said that the last three weeks were like a "whirlwind" and he enjoyed being a part of it.

"The last three weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind - just amazing to be a part of. Just turning up at Headingley knowing that I was going to play and I think the belief in the dressing room at that point was still that we could win 3-2, which is amazing.

"I think, in the past, we may have thrown the towel in but it was never the case. You know, the captain and the coach aren't interested in draws so we knew that they were going to be results games. And coming off the back of Headingley, we felt that we could go on and win. Were it not for the weather, maybe we would be standing here 3-2."