Not ready to stop yet at Warwickshire - Woakes
· Yahoo Sports
Warwickshire bowler Chris Woakes says he has still got plenty to give to the county that "is in my blood" as he prepares for his first full County season in 14 years.
The 37-year-old announced his international retirement in September following his omission from England's Ashes squad.
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He is now free to play all summer for the county he joined aged 11, playing regularly for the first team from 2008 before beginning his England One-Day and T20 careers in 2011, followed by his Test debut in 2013.
Woakes told BBC Radio WM he likes the idea of being back where it all started: "I think that's part of the reason why I wanted to do it, really. Whenever it is that I finally exit the game, I was keen to do it the way I came in, so to speak."
"This club has given me so much, being here since I was eleven. It felt like the right thing for me, the right thing for the club.
"There are no guarantees on how this summer is going to go, but I'm certainly focused and excited by putting in some strong performances and contributing to winning games of cricket.
"I could never see myself playing anywhere else; that was never an option. Warwickshire is in my blood, really".
Woakes' 21-year career to date has seen him play 62 Test matches, 122 one-day internationals and 33 T20s for his country.
He's played 185 first-class matches, bowling almost 32,000 deliveries, taking 628 wickets and scoring 6,804 runs. Woakes says there is still a bit more in the tank:
"I might be stupid, and there's going to be days this summer when I wake up after bowling 20 sets in a day for none or one wicket and think, 'What am I doing?'
"There's a bit of a sadistic approach to it, where part of you enjoys the pain and the hard yards you have to put in to reap the rewards and make the good times feel that much sweeter.
"I'm not quite ready to give all that up just yet."
Woakes (left) celebrating with Dom Sibley winning the 2021 Championship title [Getty Images]Woakes was a member of Warwickshire's 2012 and 2021 County Championship-winning team and has also enjoyed success with the club in white-ball cricket, lifting the One-Day Cup in 2010 and 2016 and the T20 Blast trophy, as Birmingham Bears, in 2014.
He'll be joined this season by Kent fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist, Yorkshire all-rounder Jordan Thompson, and the returning Keith Barker.
Warwickshire will also have Australian international all-rounder Beau Webster until July, joining 2025 leading wicket-taker Ethan Bamber, Ollie Hannon-Dalby and skipper Ed Barnard.
Woakes thinks the side looks extremely strong: "The bowling attack does look stacked, which has changed over the past 12 months.
"To win games of four-day cricket and to win championships, you need not just three or four good bowlers on the park; you need the depth to be able to back that up as the season goes on and bodies get sore."
The 37-year-old could have taken up options of playing franchise white-ball cricket around the world in the twilight of his career, but the Birmingham-born lad admits to being a cricketing romantic:
"It's a bit of a different feeling being part of a full pre-season for a change, knowing that I'm here for the duration, not nipping off here, there and everywhere.
"I've also got this love affair with the red-ball game. Although I've played through a couple of different generations, it feels like red-ball is still the pinnacle to me even though there's not that carrot of playing Test cricket open to me anymore.
"I just feel I've still got something to give with the red ball. It's the game I fell in love with, and I just wasn't quite ready to give it up.
"Don't get me wrong, I like white-ball cricket as well, but red-ball gives you something that white-ball doesn't quite tick those boxes - that battle you can get in with the batter - and I think it's the true testament of skill."