WOOD GIVES ROOT A GLIMPSE OF LIFE AFTER BROAD & ANDERSON
JOE ROOT showed he has one eye on a future without James Anderson and Stuart Broad by asking Mark Wood to open the bowling.
But that seismic change in English cricket is not upon us just yet as it was the two experienced pillars of the attack who shone brightest with the pink ball on day one.
Agreeing to bowl throughout the day regardless of how many wickets fell, Anderson and Broad took six of the 10 that went down for 376 as they tuned up for the first Test next week against four of the batsmen they are likely to face.
Anderson got into the groove and had plenty to say to centurions Tom Blundell and Kyle Jamieson, bringing some extra heat to the warm-up.
The Anderson-broad opening partnership (left) got underway in New Zealand 10 years ago and now stands on its own as the most successful of its kind.
But the current skipper knows it cannot last for ever and it could well fall to him to have to find their longterm replacements – and Wood is a candidate.
Wood said: “I was a bit shocked when Rooty told me the day before that I’d be opening the bowling, what with Anderson and Broad such a prolific partnership.
“We had a bowlers’ meeting, and he pulled me in at the end and said that – further down the line – if the two guys finish at around the same time, we don’t want two fresh opening bowlers.
“So it’s a chance in a practice game to give different lads a chance to see. It was a chance for me to try to impress.”
And Wood has it all to do in order to force his way into a Test team that does not look like having a bowling vacancy right now.
Wood’s main hope of adding to his 10 Tests is if Ben Stokes’ stiff back develops into something more and prevents him bowling in Auckland.
“I think he’ll be all right,” said Wood, who took 2-80. “I know there’s a few of the bowlers who’ve got a couple of niggles for this game, so that was a chance for me to put my name in the hat.
“I’m trying to push my way in, but there are quality bowlers. It’s hard to get in.”