At the press conference on the opening day of the second Test at Edgbaston, the England seamer got emotional while talking about his late father, who died last May.In tribute to his late father, Chris Woakes has a tattoo on his left tricep. The design shows his father, Roger, seen from behind, wearing a flat cap and walking with his hands behind his back. The image is surrounded by his father’s initials and dates.“I got it in memory of him,” Woakes told reporters.“My Dad always wore a flat cap, and he would walk around the boundary with his hands behind his back, nervously watching me play cricket.”“Definitely. He’s always on my mind, that’s for sure,” the 36-year-old said. “There are moments where I think about him. He loved his cricket, and he’d have loved this week.”
Woakes picked up two wickets on the opening day in front of his home crowd and could have got more if not for the umpire’s call.When asked whether he was a bit emotional, he said: “Yeah, I’d say so. Across a career, you don’t get that many games at your home venue.“This is only my fourth. That’s not a lot. At the age I am, they don’t come around too often. It’s a special week, and I have a lot of friends and family in the ground.“I have a love for Warwickshire that goes deep. It’s all I’ve ever known. My whole professional career has been here. I was here before this stand was here.“I’ve seen it change, and there are a lot of people behind the scenes who support you in the good times and the bad. It’s a special week to play at Edgbaston, it really is.”
