Englandbowling all-rounder Chris Woakes is ready to go through rehabilitation instead of surgery for his shoulder injury, which he picked up in the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, played
at The Oval. While striving to save a boundary in the game, Woakes displayed a diving effort but dislocated his shoulder. England had ruled him out of the rest of the game but on the final day, when the hosts got close to the target, the veteran was sent in the middle to support Gus Atkinson. Woakes’ endeavours were appreciated by spectators at the stadium.
Following the home Test series against India, England’s red-ball assignment is in Australia, where the Ashes 2025-26 will be held. Woakes, 36, might tour Down Under for the final time to play Tests and he will look to regain his fitness soon to make England’s dream of winning the Ashes on Australiasoil after 15 years.
Chris Woakes, who is awaiting results of scans, spoke to BBC Sport and said he is preferring rehab over surgery because with the former procedure, he will heal within eight weeks. On the other hand, surgery will take three to four months as revealed by Woakes, who consulted physios. "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. I suppose 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 sort of thing. From what I've heard from physios and specialists is that the rehab of a surgery option would be closer to four months or three to four months. That's obviously touching on the Ashes and Australia so it makes it tricky. From a rehab point of view you can probably get it strong again within eight weeks. So that could be an option, but again obviously still waiting to get the full report on it," said Woakes.
Ashes 2025-26 to start on November 21
Ashes 2025-26 will start on November 21 at the Optus Stadium. Last time, when Australia played the Test match against India in Perth in 2024, they registered a massive 295-run loss. The fact will bring cheers to the faces of Ben Stokes and his men as they will also look to beat the Pat Cummins-led team in a similar way.
However, records divulge that things won’t be easy for the English side as they won their last Test Down Under in January 2011, when Andrew Strauss, in his captaincy, guided England to an innings and 83-run victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Since then, England have played 15 Tests in Australia, in which they saw themselves on the losing side on 13 occasions.
