One of the key men at the heart of England’s One-Day International revival, Chris Woakes, has admitted the improvements made by the national side over the past year are scarcely believable.
After exiting the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup at the group stages, England’s 169-run victory at Trent Bridge gave the side their fourth series triumph in six outings since the disastrous campaign.
Woakes knows England have come a long way since crashing out of the global competition, but insists they are far from the finished article.
"It's credit to the way the guys have played, the way it's led from the coach, the captain and all the way through," said Woakes.
"We are encouraged to play our natural games and the batsmen have led that. It's only happened since 12 months ago, that series against New Zealand, but we do have to pinch ourselves a little bit because the improvements have been dramatic from where we were. Hopefully that can continue.
"We realise there's still a lot of improvement to make, we aren't the finished article, and I think that showed in the first two games of the series - although we were winning we felt we could improve and we showed that.
“It still wasn't perfect, probably the perfect performance with the bat, but still things to work on.”
Alex Hales’ 171, the highest score by an Englishman in ODI cricket, at Trent Bridge lifted England to a world record score of 444-3 on their way to sealing series victory over Pakistan.
The score marked the second time in their history that England have passed 400 in 50-over cricket, and Woakes believes a score of 500 could be round the corner.
“If the boys keep batting the way they are you can never say never but it would be a really freakish day," he said.
"We've seen 400 reached a lot more often but whether 500 can happen, I'm not sure it can to be honest.
“I hope not as a bowler."
Trent Bridge will host an Investec Test Match between England and South Africa, and a Royal London One-Day International visit from the West Indies, in 2017.
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