Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND NERVOUS 90s
Wood whistles the ball past Aussie heads in the one-day warm-up ..and now wants to give Smith and Warner meaty deliveries rather than the Ashes diet of medium pace
BIRTHDAY BOY Mark Wood will get to show just how much England missed his pace in the Ashes by getting the Aussie batsmen hopping about in the one-dayers.
And he promised to turn up the heat on the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner with some 90mph missiles after watching their Test averages grow fat on a diet of medium pace.
Matt Renshaw went within a whisker of opening in the Ashes, but instead his only battle with England – who had Test skipper Joe Root on drinks duties (right) – came in a 50-over warm-up won at a canter by the visitors by five wickets thanks to
Eoin Morgan’s 81 not out.
But he has had to cope with the most vicious delivery sent down by an
England man this winter as Wood ripped one past his nose to ‘lay down a marker.’ “That is my role in the team to ramp it up and be aggressive and try to take wickets by bowling fast,” said the 28-yearold after getting over his heel injury. “I thought I’d let him have one early and try and put a bit of a marker down.
“I’ve been champing at the bit. I was bowling fast and feeling like my old self again with the Lions which was good and then I joined up with the Test side.
“I’d like to prove a point to everyone, my team-mates, the media and prove I can be that X-factor bowler they want.” Wood’s figures of 0-68 from his 10 overs doesn’t look like much as a Cricket Australia XI were restricted to 258-9 but there was some serious pace on show and the top-edges would have been caught on bigger grounds.
He wasn’t the only one to enjoy a return to England colours though with Alex Hales finding some form with 52 from 35 balls in his first game back since the Ben Stokes incident in Bristol.
Hales could still be sanctioned by a cricket discipline commission, but for now he is set to return to full international duty on Sunday in Melbourne.
Morgan said: “Obviously there was an issue around it and he knows what he did was wrong and he’s learnt his lesson coming back into the side. He’s been given another chance to prove himself.
“He stuck to the mantra for the team which is to be positive and aggressive. He played extremely well.”
It was also a special day for umpire Claire Polosak who is believed to be the first woman to officiate on-field in a senior men’s England match, albeit a 12-a-side game.
“It was fantastic,” said Polosak. “It’s always a good opportunity to umpire players at the top of their game and they were English gentlemen.”