England pacer Chris Woakes suffered a nasty shoulder dislocation injury during the recent fifth Test against India at The Oval. While he won hearts with his bravery when he walked out to bat with just one hand on the final day, he now faces a serious dilemma to get ready for England’s next big challenge in the Ashes 2025.
Woakes has to decide between having surgery or going for a risky rehab since he is determined to feature in the five-Test contest Down Under. It is understood that returning from a surgery is going to take an extended period for Woakes to make a return while a rehab is relatively quicker but there will be a chance of the injury reoccurring.
Echoing on the same lines, Woakes told BBC Sport, “I’m waiting to see what the extent of the damage is but I think the options will be to have surgery or to go down a rehab route and try and get it as strong as possible.”
“Naturally with that there will be a chance of a reoccurrence, but I suppose that could be a risk that you’re just willing to take. Surgery rehab would be three to four months — that’s touching on the Ashes — whereas with rehab you can probably get it strong again within eight weeks.”
The first Ashes Test begins in Perth on November 21.
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The 36-year-old played in all five games of the series and had taken on a serious workload. In fact, he bowled the most number of overs for England, sending down a total of 181 overs with only India’s Mohammed Siraj (185 overs) bowling more than Woakes in the series. The shoulder dislocation unfortunately didn’t let Woakes bowl in the final Indian innings, else he would have topped the list.
In the previous Ashes 2023 in England which ended in a 2-2 draw, Woakes was a key performer for the hosts, finishing as the third-highest wicket-taker in the series with 19 scalps in six innings, averaging at an impressive 18.15. Woakes will thus be eager to make his contributions count once again as the Three Lions search for a Test series win in Australia for the first time in 15 years with their last success coming during Ashes 2010-11.
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