Cricket has had its share of grand farewells and final acts, but Chris Woakes’ was unique.
A knight at The Oval
War references in sport are probably insensitive. But how else do you describe a hero who strode out to bat with his arm a sling to try to help his side win a series with the series on the line?
Ahead of the titanic final day at The Oval, Joe Root had confirmed that Woakes – ruled out with a dislocated arm – was prepared to “give it all” if need arose.
Having not batted in the first innings, Woakes was last man in in the second. England needed 17 when he joined Gus Atkinson. Thirteen balls and sixteen minutes later, he had to walk off – not because he had been dismissed but because the Laws of Cricket did not permit him to bat after Atkinson got out. Had they, he would probably have put his injured arm in the line.
Less than two months later, Woakes announced his retirement from international cricket. The dying moments of the Oval Test were indeed the last moments of his career.
A unique final act
Has cricket known a comparable final act? There have, of course, been great farewell performances. From Tom Richardson and SF Barnes before the Wars to Bill Ponsford and Clarrie Grimmett between them to Sunil Gavaskar and Richard Hadlee after them to Brendon McCullum and Alastair Cook in the 21st century, that list is long and features some of the greatest cricketing names.
Don Bradman’s final innings ended in an anticlimax. Greg Chappell, on the other hand, went past Bradman in his last Test; Muttiah Muralidaran signed off with his 800th wicket; and Imran Khan, requested to come out of retirement after the 1987 World Cup, finally retired after leading Pakistan to title triumph in 1992.
India prepared for all of 2013 for Sachin Tendulkar’s emotional farewell – a stark contrast to Brian Lara’s simple question (“did I entertain?”) to the crowd after his last game, at the 2007 World Cup. In the era of social media, the hashtag #MisYou beautifully captured the simultaneous retirements of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.
Rod Marsh retired alongside Chappell and Dennis Lillee (“all my mates have gone”). So did Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer, and a Test before them, Damien Martyn. While not planned, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, and Jeff Dujon played their last Tests together as well, while R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli played theirs in the same series.
Anil Kumble made up his mind when he realised he might not be fit before the final Test of the 2008/09 series against Australia. He announced retirement at tea on the final day of the third Test, declared the innings (it was headed for a draw), opened bowling, bowled four overs, and that remained his final act.
And then, there were the dramatic exits, the ones that would almost certainly have been labelled as “extra” today.
After being booed by the Trent Bridge crowd for his slow moving, 50-year-old WG Grace – a champion athlete in his youth – tricked fellow selector CB Fry into dropping him from the Test XI for good.
South African seamer Athol Rowan damaged his left knee in the Second World War, switched to off-spin, and played 15 Tests. When his knee could not handle the load of long spells anymore, he quit – with a dramatic "I shall never play again" announcement after his final Test.
Woakes’ farewell act was unlike any of theirs. It was not a pre-arranged grand farewell party. It was not a great innings by any definition – he did not even face a single ball. Had cricket been progressive with its full substitution rules, Woakes would not have needed to walk out and risk getting injured even further: a substitute would have sufficed.
What makes Woakes’ final act singular is that it could not have happened in any other sport. He is a primarily a bowler (though, admittedly, his batting boosted his credentials). His walking out was the act of an athlete braving a potentially career-jeopardising aggravation to an injury to perform the secondary skill for which he was chosen.
Not batting at The Oval was an option available to him. Few would have criticised him if he had not. They had not when he had not batted in the first innings. Woakes’ parting gift was, thus, as much an act of valour as it was a unique cricketing feature.
Was there a precedent?
After Winston Davis broke his arm at Old Trafford in 1984, Paul Terry returned to bat with his arm in a sling, tucked inside his sweater, and even survived a Joel Garner yorker with one arm. He helped Allan Lamb reach his hundred. Garner soon bowled him, which remained the last act of Terry’s two-Test career: he did not bat again as England lost by an innings, and did not play again.
Perhaps it is a coincidence that these are the only two known instances of anyone coming to bat with an arm in a sling in a Test match. Or perhaps not.
