England players have hit back at legend Sir Ian Botham who said players were hiding behind hard quarantine rules to avoid the Ashes.
England players weren’t trying to avoid coming to Australia for the Ashes, and all-rounder Chris Woakes believes their push for workable quarantine rules was more than fair after 18 months of doing “a lot” of playing out of a bubble.
Woakes was one of the players with a young family who expressed reservations about the early prospect of tough quarantine for England’s touring party before constant dialogue and a changing Covid landscape in Australia allowed more amenable rules.
Named as part of the 17-man England squad this week, Woakes said the players were not “hiding” behind quarantine rules as a way to avoid the series, and he was adamant the players were “chomping at the bit” for the Ashes.
“I don‘t think there’s any hiding behind Covid. If we were living in a normal world, this wouldn’t be the case,” Woakes said.
“People would be chomping at the bit. As a group of England players we still are. The chance to go to Australia and hopefully win an Ashes series is huge, it’s still the pinnacle, but there’s more to it than cricket.
“There was never too much doubt that everyone was keen to go and play, but obviously there are things happening in the world right now and people want securities around what life is going to be like once we are there.
“But quarantine is a big thing. We’ve done a hell of a lot of it, and so the thought of having to do 14 days of it with families is quite a big thing for a lot of people
“I think that’s completely fair given what people have lived through in the past 18 months, having lived through bubbles and quarantine.”
Woakes, who is in Dubai with the England squad preparing for the T20 World Cup, said the full scale of what the players would face in Australia around any potential restrictions was yet to be confirmed.
“There’s things still going on behind the scenes to get absolute clarity on what things are going to like when we are there,” he said.
“I do have a young family, we are not 100 per cent sure if we are going to travel as a family yet.
“Things are still being discussed. When we get that back fully, we’ll be able to fully commit.”
The quality of the England squad drew significant criticism for its lack of star power and a bowling attack lacking absolute raw pace.
But Woakes, who took 10 wickets in four Ashes Tests when he last toured in Australia in 2017-18, was confident there was a blueprint to beat the Aussies through execution.
“We do have Mark Wood as one bowler with express pace,“ Woakes said.
”But teams have had success there by being relentless, putting the ball in the right area and moving it off the straight and having good plans.
“We have to come up with plans to get their best players out and to try and take 20 wickets to win Test matches. We have to draw on the experiences of teams that have been there and won.
“Not only the 2010-11 England side but more recently India and South Africa before that and try to replicate how they did it.
“Going Down Under is never an easy tour, they play really hard cricket there, and tradition and history suggests we don’t go there and win too often as an England side.
“But the opportunity to compete and win an Ashes is something that doesn’t come around too often for players, so of course we are excited about that prospect.”
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