Wood’s dopey smile hides a killer instinct at the death
Bowler’s cool head under pressure is a major plus as England eye semi-finals, writes Jonathan Liew
Ball one was short, into the ribs, and pulled down to long leg for a single. “Honestly? No,” Mark Wood replies when asked if he genuinely thought he could defend seven runs off the last over against South Africa at Southampton last weekend. “I thought, with two set batsmen, it wasn’t enough.”
Yet one of the things about this England team is that they never give up hope. Ball two was short again, failed to rise, and pulled for another single. “After the first couple,” Wood remembers, “I knew my plan, and started to believe.”
There are two schools of thought when it comes to bowling at the death. One says that a bowler needs to stay one step ahead of the batsman at all times: always varying things, always trying things, always adapting.
England adhere to the other school: when you are under the pump, devise a plan and stick to it. Ball three was short again. David Miller swung and missed. A dot.
“With the manic behaviour of the one-day game, especially at the end, the ball is flying here, there and everywhere,” Wood explains. “You’ve just got to be so clear with your plans. I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I disappeared around the field, if I stuck to my plan and executed it.”
So it proved at Southampton in the second one-day international. Miller and Chris Morris knew exactly what was coming: short balls, dug into a two-paced pitch with a packed leg-side field. But unlike Ben Stokes in last year’s World Twenty20 final, Wood executed to perfection. Ball four was short again, and pulled for a single. Ball five was another dot.
The final balls of an ODI are as much a test of nerve as of skill. Ahead of the final delivery, with four runs required for victory, Wood talked through his options with captain Eoin Morgan. “At times, you can almost rush through it,” Wood says. “Sometimes it’s nice if the captain comes up to you and you have a little chat.”
Ball six went for a single. And so, despite bowling six very similar deliveries, Wood’s final over went for just four runs. And England won.
Now, with England just one win away from the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, Wood’s skills will be in greater demand than ever. Victory over Bangladesh at the Kia Oval on Thursday came at a cost: Chris Woakes is now out of the tournament with a side strain, so the responsibility for the vital slog overs now falls primarily to Wood, Stokes and Liam Plunkett.
“It depends on the dimensions of the field, and what Morgy wants,” Wood says.
Don’t let the big, dopey smile fool you. Wood is one of the shrewdest, sharpest bowlers around, constantly analysing his game, constantly looking for an edge. With his skiddy bounce and awkward length, Wood has become one of the hardest England bowlers to hit. His bowling average of 50 may be nothing to write home about, but only four times in 16 innings has he gone for more than a run a ball.
Victory over New Zealand at Cardiff on Tuesday would ensure England’s place in the last four. Cardiff, with its short straight boundaries, can be a difficult ground on which to defend. “There might be an option again to go into the pitch,” Wood says. “Sometimes it grips there, so slower balls might be effective.”
If the likes of Wood can step up, England may just have enough not to notice Woakes’s absence.