Had bad light not intervened at the Oval 10 years ago to a chorus of dismay, Chris Woakes might well have tasted the high of hitting the winning runs in an Ashes Test before last Sunday.
But his Test career since that thwarted run chase on debut in 2013, one that has coincided with those of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, plus the mighty Ben Stokes in the all-rounder stakes, has required a good deal of patience along the way; one of the many virtues that had so many rooting for the Brummie Botham at Headingley.
