After not being selected for the 2025/26 Ashes tour, Chris Woakes announced his retirement from international cricket.
Chris Woakes retires from international cricket
On September 29, Woakes announced his retirement from international cricket on social media. “Playing for England was something I aspired to do since I was a kid dreaming in the back garden, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have lived out those dreams,” he wrote.
The decision came less than a week after England announced their squad for the 2025/26 Ashes, without Woakes. ECB managing director Rob Key confirmed that he was not “in our plans at the minute ... at all.” That as good as confirmed the end of the road for Woakes, now 36.
Woakes played 122 ODIs and 33 T20Is, and was one of four England cricketers (along with Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, and Adil Rashid) to feature in the finals of their triumphant campaigns in the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Since 2023, however, he was primarily a Test cricketer. From 62 Tests between 2013 and 2025, he had 2,034 runs at 25.11 and 192 wickets at 29.61, barely missing out on the 2,000 run-200 wicket double. He dislocated a shoulder in his final Test match, at The Oval against India, but came out to bat with his arm in a sling as No.11 in the fourth innings.
Woakes’ record at Lord’s is a feature of his career: from eight Tests there, he had 350 runs at 35 and 36 wickets at 14.38, making him the only cricketer with more than 300 runs at an average of 35 and 30 wickets at an average below 15 at a single venue.
Woakes assured that he would continue to play in the County Cricket as well as pursue opportunities in franchise cricket.
