Former England player Nasser Hussain recently spoke about England pacer Mark Wood who is very jolly and keeps his team going. However, the former player said every team needs someone like Wood. He shared only the team’s performance needs to be lifted here. His comments came during the Tests between England and South Africa where the tailenders did pretty well with the bat.
Wood scored a 39-ball 35 with 2 fours and 3 sixes whereas another speedster Stuart Broad smashed a quickfire 43 off 28 with 2 fours and 4 sixes in the first innings of Johannesburg Test.
“There is nothing worse for a bowling side than Nos 10 and 11 coming out and smashing it and there is nothing better for the batting one than to see a last-wicket partnership like Wood’s and Stuart Broad’s on Saturday,” Hussain said.
Like batting, Mark Wood did a phenomenal job with the ball too. He bowled a great spell after tea on day two alongside Chris Woakes. Hussain praised Wood who after a fitness test, went up to the captain Joe Root and said: “I’m struggling with my side but I’m OK and I want to play.”
Root played with five pace bowlers in the game. It was kind of a gamble with Mark Wood if he pulled up any injury that would have had a demoralizing effect on the team as well.
“Wood is no bang-it-in Billy. He’s not just a tearaway quick. His seam position when you see the ball come out of his hand is immaculate and the ball on Sunday that dismissed Quinton de Kock was exceptional. OK, De Kock was trying to be attacking but it was the perfect bail trimmer that actually broke the bail with a great seam position and Wood’s wrist behind the ball,” Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
“His lengths have been excellent and he has used his bouncer well, like when he set Pieter Malan up with two short deliveries before getting him out with a fuller ball on day two. I could understand England using Wood as their enforcer in the third Test because of the pitch in Port Elizabeth — even though Root overdid it at times, which is a dangerous thing to do — but I much prefer how he bowled here,” he added.
“The change to a longer run-up, which was suggested to him by Michael Holding, has been hugely important for Wood. People might think that would take more out of his body but in fact it takes less out of it in the last bit of his delivery stride. With a shorter run every bit of the energy has to come at the end,” he expressed.
Wood led the bowling attack with a five-wicket haul. Apart from him, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes also bagged 2 wickets each. England put up a huge total of 400 runs in their first innings on the back of individual fifties from Zak Crawley, Joe Root, and Ollie Pop whereas they put up 248 runs in the second innings, giving the hosts 466 runs to chase.
