Former England pacer Chris Woakes has said that Rob Key announced publicly that he was not in the cricket board’s plans in the near future and that was a bit ‘cold’ and ‘shabby’, as he looked back at his unceremonious exit from the England cricket team.
Woakes represented England in 217 games across formats, including 62 Tests. His final red-ball appearance came in bizarre circumstances during the fifth Test against India at The Oval in August 2025, when he came out to bat despite having dislocated his shoulder while fielding earlier in the game.
But Woakes’ show of grit and determination couldn’t earn him a place in England’s Ashes team, prompting him to announce his immediate retirement from international cricket.
Woakes also recounts how England
moved on from him. While he accepted being left out of last year’s Ashes team and the termination of his England contract, he was hurt by the public manner in which Key announced that he was no longer part of the plans.
“Chris Woakes isn’t in our plans,” Key said, adding, “at all.” Reflecting on the remark, Woakes writes in his autobiography The Wizard: “That final bit felt a bit cold. A bit shabby, really.”
Woakes, however, refrains from being critical of Key. “I have always got on well with Rob and maybe those words slipped out, not necessarily how he meant them. But he could have easily had that conversation first with me, rather than the press,” Woakes wrote.
“We have barely spoken since. He is a busy man and moved on to different things. I am sure at some point we will discuss it. But in any walk of professional sport there isn’t much loyalty because the game moves on,” Woakes added.
The Ashes campaign turned into a complete disaster, with England’s familiar drubbing by Australia compounded by late-night incidents involving Harry Brook and Ben Duckett.
