Human catapult keeps on firing in the cauldron
Wood’s rapid eight-over spell late in the day checked hosts’ progress and was extraordinary effort in debilitating conditions
Even when England were No1 in the world Test rankings under Andrew Strauss, they had an Achilles heel.
From around the 70th over of an opponent’s innings, until the second new ball after 80 overs, England in the field often went soggy.
None of that on day one of the second Test in Galle. It was a Durham bowler who used to fill in for a few overs with the old ball under Strauss, but Paul Collingwood was mainly a batsman.
On this occasion, it was a real Durham bowler, Mark Wood, the human catapult.
By the time Wood had finished his eight-over spell that kept the lid on Sri Lanka, the temperature back in his home town of Ashington was 3C, with a “real feel” of -5C. It must have been 30C in the middle at Galle, except that does not begin to convey the heat’s intensity.
Ordinary people, after being in the sun in Sri Lanka for a minute, would say it was boiling and even begin to feel giddy.
Wood did not get full reward for his dehydrating efforts – the followup ball after he delivered his bouncers was not quite straight enough, save in the case of Dinesh Chandimal’s wicket – but it was still a mighty contribution. All done with a smile, if weary by the end, which is not to be taken for granted with every England pace bowler.
Wood or Jofra Archer or Olly Stone: England, according to head coach Chris Silverwood on the eve of this Test, have nurtured this trio of bowlers who can exceed 90mph and will rotate them henceforth.
Wood goes home after this Test for a break, so he was given the back-breaking task of 27 overs on the slowest of pitches in the first Test, before his 17-over shift of which any Ashington miner would have been proud.
The one Test ground in Sri Lanka with decent carry is only played on by schoolboys now. Asgiriya, belonging to Trinity School in Kandy, up in the hills, had a bounce
which no ground down on the plains has had.
Hence, its most distinguished former pupil, Kumar Sangakkara, was the one Sri Lankan batsman to be world-class inside and outside Asia.
It is not as if Wood had much confidence, having taken only two Test wickets since his successful tour of South Africa a year ago. His one Test before Sri Lanka had been at Southampton, on a pitch suited to swing and seam. His captain Ben Stokes, standing in for Joe Root, wanted to pump the tyres of his Durham teammate and give him a third Test in succession; but figures of two for 110 led to his being omitted from the next five Tests, yet stuck in the biobubble, where his humour was exemplary in keeping everyone smiling.
In the first of the Galle Tests, Wood could not reverse swing because the square after rain was too muddy: he even aired an off-cutter for left-handers, but still the rewards would not come.
He was stuck on 50 Test wickets. In this second Test, Wood has had a slightly quicker pitch but, above all, a ball that polished up nicely on one side and began to reverse swing after lunch.
That speed above 90mph was employed to make Angelo Mathews feel grateful for his chest guard, and to target Chandimal with a series of pin-point bouncers.
Wood made Chandimal uncomfortable by hitting the batsman on the helmet and more than once on the gloves – in Galle, the fast bowler’s graveyard – before that euphoria and relief when pinning him for 52.