Hungry Wood hoping for final chance to showcase pace credentials
➤ Overlooked bowler in battle with Archer for last Test of year ➤ England consider Rashid for red-ball return, confirms Smith
England’s Test team go into hibernation next week until the new year, leaving them one final chance to assess their pace attack when the series against Pakistan resumes on Friday.
Mark Wood has played just one Test this summer, at the beginning of the biobubble exercise against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl.
He was fit last week and could have replaced Jofra Archer, but England chose the extra batting provided by Sam Curran, fearing they would be light without Ben Stokes.
Wood is back in contention for the third Test against Pakistan and reportedly bowling quickly in practice. He looks sharp and a bruised foot injury has cleared up.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad will keep their places because there is no point in rotating bowlers who will not play again until January at the earliest, when England are hopeful of going to Sri Lanka for a series rescheduled from March.
It leaves Wood or Archer likely to replace Curran if England want extra pace. Chris Woakes has enjoyed a fine summer and the truncated second Test should mean he has had plenty of time to rest and be fresh for a fifth Test in a row.
This is threatening to be a lost summer for Wood. Pairing him with Archer signalled a shift in policy, but he has since become a passenger living the biosecure life without getting on the park.
Losing that first Test against West Indies was a setback, not just for the series, but also for plans to refresh England’s attack. Broad and Anderson were back in harness by the third Test against West Indies and their fingers are not going to be prised off the new ball any time soon. England have played only two
Tests since 2008 without either Anderson or Broad in the side, an incredible record of continuity but underlining the challenge of planning for life without them, an issue put back now by another 12 months.
Wood ended the winter in fine style with a man-of-the-match performance in Johannesburg, when he was delighted not just with his nine wickets, but at simply playing consecutive Tests for the first time in four years.
He began this summer aiming to improve his home record. Wood averages 44 from 10 Tests in England, with all his best performances overseas, where his wickets cost a shade over 23 from six games. Reverse swing in the United Arab Emirates and the pace and bounce of St Lucia and the Wanderers have suited him better than grassy, seaming pitches at home.
He has used his downtime wisely, learning a wobble seam delivery that he hopes will make him more effective at home.
England enjoy such strength in depth in seam bowling that they can leave out Wood and hold him back for engagements overseas. In Australia, bowling averages improve over 87mph with pace needed on flat wickets. There are a finite number of matches left in his body, so being patient now may pay dividends in 18 months’ time in Australia, but England are no closer to working out how many Tests they can realistically squeeze out of his fragile body.
Wood has played only four Test matches in two years and missed the entire Ashes series last summer because of injury.
If he does not play this week, his next opportunity at international level will be the T20 series against Australia that starts on Sept 4. He was not named in the T20 squad to play Pakistan with the selectors leaving out anyone involved in the Test series.
The weather was sunny at the Ageas Bowl yesterday, so the ground staff were able to begin preparing the pitch, but covered the surface used in the first game, providing a backup if they are unable to work on the square today, when rain is forecast. The Daily Telegraph revealed this week that England are hopeful of selecting Adil Rashid for Test cricket again and Ed Smith, the national selector, confirmed he remained in their plans.
Rashid was named in the T20 squad to play Pakistan, but the question is whether he wants to play the longer form of the game again. He has not played a first-class match since a Test in the West Indies in January last year, partly due to injury but also, at 32, he appears content with life as a white-ball specialist.
“Adil has made really good strides with his shoulder injury. We will work closely with Yorkshire and see if he is ready to play four or fiveday games,” Smith said.