Mark Wood had a sensational return to Test cricket after missing out on the first two matches of the Ashes 2023 series due to fitness issues. The right-arm seamer turned out to be a game-changer for England in the third Test at Headingley as he stunned the Australian batters with his sheer pace and bagged seven overall wickets across two innings. In the process, he also bowled the fastest ever over in the history of Headingley.
Apart from his bowling prowess, Wood contributed with the bat as well. The 33-year-old scored valuable 24 and 16 runs for England in both innings, respectively. The all-round performance by Wood earned him the well-deserved ‘Player of the Match’ award as well.
Wood’s compatriot Ollie Robinson has now talked about the former’s dream return and his impact on the team in his recent column for Wisden. Robinson highlighted the effect Wood had on the Australian batters in his article and pointed out the mark he left in the heads of the Aussie players with his lethal deliveries.
“I’ve never seen a spell like Woody’s on that first morning. I was at mid-off to start with, and first few balls, I thought, ‘Jeez, that looks pretty quick…’ He carried on through the over, finished the job, and then someone ran past me from slip and said that they were standing past my bowling mark, which is 22-and-a-half metres back,” wrote Robinson.
“The fact he was consistently getting the shape and movement on it as well – at that speed – was just unbelievable bowling. It was just amazing to watch and be a part of. Though not so amazing for the batters, I’d imagine. Every batter during that spell was doing the same thing. It was awkwardly fast and awkwardly uncomfortable, and as a batter you’re trying to convey that you’re fine when you’re really not,” he added.
Robinson further even revealed some hilarious dressing room antics of Wood and stated that one might think he’s drunk after seeing his funny side. Nevertheless, he cleared that Wood doesn’t consume any alcoholic beverages. Robinson discussed a funny dressing room incident ten minutes before the match involving Wood in his column as well.
“Woody’s just got this mad, unique energy. There’s no one else like him. You think he’s drunk half the time yet he doesn’t touch a drop. Bear in mind this is a bloke who, 10 minutes before we went out, literally at 10:50 am, was on all-fours barking on the changing room floor, going, ‘here’s a dog in the dressing room. There’s a dog in here, lads…,” wrote Robinson.
