Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A GREAT 308
Wood’s 123mph delivery may have been dodgy but he’s rushing India
This is the new Peugeot 308, and like most cars in the French firm’s current range it looks rather good. This is in contrast to its predecessors which were bland, although the outgoing model is not so bad.
This latest 308 is totally new and is 11cm longer, has a 55mm longer wheelbase and is 20mm lower.
Not surprisingly there’s a comprehensive range of driver assistance technologies available and a wide range of power units to choose, with traditional petrol and diesel or a couple of plug-in hybrids.
The latter will be available with either a 150bhp or 180bhp petrol engine and will have Ev-only ranges of around 35 miles.
Production will start in the second half of the year and we’ll have a first go in one in the autumn.
MARK WOOD once hit 123mph on the speed gun in the nets at Durham – only to find the radar was on the blink.
But he can now lay claim to the second-fastest delivery ever recorded by an England bowler after he was clocked at 96.3mph in Ahmedabad.
Radar, steady, go! Only his Ashington mentor and cheerleader Steve Harmison, who peaked at 96.8mph in the Champions Trophy final against West Indies at The Oval in 2004, has ever gone faster than Wood’s bouncer to Rohit Sharma on Tuesday. England can claim a notable Twenty20 scalp in India today by going 3-1 up in the five-match series against the World T20 hosts later this year.
And Wood’s fast show – short, sharp bursts of well-directed northern venom – has underscored England’s pace options in an Ashes year.
Only three men – Shoaib Akhtar (left), Shaun Tait and Brett Lee – have breached the 100mph barrier and Wood said: “No, I’ve never notched 100.
“Actually, that’s a lie, I notched 123 on a speed gun at Durham when I was only half-running, so the gun was clearly broken.
“I don’t know if that counts or not? We occasionally use the speed gun when I’m coming back from injury to get a gauge on how much I need to keep progressing.
“But in the nets on tour or in training camp we don’t tend to use them that much. In training, I’d say you only bowl 80 or 90 per cent, anyway.”
In the current series, Wood has sent down two of England’s four fastest spells in T20 internationals, averaging 91.22mph in the first match and 90.07mph in the third.
His bowling analysis was heading for the T20 equivalent of a masterpiece on Tuesday, after a matchwinning early burst reduced India to 24-3, until Indian captain Virat Kohli blotted his Rembrandt.
Wood added: “I’ll take the battering at the end in exchange for the early prizes. Actually, I thought I bowled a couple where I wanted and he just played good shots.
“Good players are allowed to do that, and I said to him (Kohli) at the end, ‘That first ball you hit for six was a hell of a shot’.
“He’s a fantastic player we try to get out early. This time we didn’t, but we were still pleased with the score we kept them to.”
Before the year is out, Wood could join a handful of England players in an exclusive club of World Cup winners over both 50 overs and the shortest format.
He admitted: “It would be something I would be extremely proud of. I’d love to be a part of that and it would be a fantastic achievement.
“I heard a colleague say the word ‘legacy’ the other day, and as a group it would be great to look back after your career and say we achieved it.”
Of the chance to seal a psychologically important win on Indian soil, Wood admitted: “We’re not going to take a backward step now.”
THIS year’s Premiership Rugby Cup has been scrapped due to Covid-19.
The competition, won by Sale Sharks last season (above), was scheduled to start next month, with games being played in midweek.
This season’s contest was to be ‘development focused’ because of the shortened season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Premiership Rugby said: “It was clear that in this unique season it would not be possible to add additional players to squads and properly prepare them without compromising the clubs’ Covid-19 training bubble, which everyone has fought so hard to protect.
“In the light of these player welfare and competition integrity concerns the cup cannot proceed this season.”