WYATT: I’D FACE UP TO WOODY... AT SQUARE LEG!
England Australia 2nd ODI, Today 11am, Ageas Bowl
vMARK WOOD took time off from blowing the Aussies away and being a Headingley hero to give his full support to England’s women in their own bid for Ashes glory.
The paceman (below) contacted skipper
Heather Knight’s side to wish them luck before Wednesday’s crucial ODI in Bristol, which they won in dramatic fashion to level the multi-format series at 6-6.
All-rounder Danni Wyatt says she and the rest of the team were freshly inspired by England men’s Third Test heroics at Headingley.
Now the Women’s
Ashes is right up for grabs going into today’s clash at the Ageas Bowl, followed by the final ODI in Taunton on Tuesday.
Wyatt, 32, insisted: “Watching the guys definitely inspires me and, hopefully, we inspire them back.
“I love the way they play the game. Just like ourselves, they are now on a good run. It was great to see them win and keep it going.
“I was especially happy for Woody. He messaged me to pass on his good wishes for the game in Bristol. I said, ‘Well done’ for the way he bowled in the Test. He was awesome to watch, bowling absolute rockets, which was class! Mind you I wouldn’t like to face him. No thank you. I’d definitely be at square leg!
“It would be amazing for the country if both England teams could come out on top.”
Knight’s unbeaten 75 led England to a two-wicket win in Bristol and England know they essentially need to win both remaining fixtures to wrestle the Ashes away from the holders.
Wyatt insisted: “We’ve just got to keep winning and get over the line.
“We have the momentum behind us and there is the belief in the dressing room that we can do this.
“We have a nice calmness within the group, and are focused on what job we still need to do if we are to get our hands on the trophy.
“Everyone backs each other and you have seen that over the past three games. However, we are aware we must stay in the moment and not get too ahead of ourselves – Australia are the best team in the world for a reason.
“They are not used to losing and will come back harder and be working hard on things like we will be.
“They have world-class players, ODI is probably their strongest format and there are two more big games to come.
“But we gained huge confidence from a fantastic achievement of beating them in the T20s – where they hadn’t lost a series since 2017 – and brought it into the ODIS.
“This Ashes has been hyped up like no other. Every game is so close and the crowds have been really getting behind us and making the series even more special. They have been our 12th man, we can feel their support out there.
“Hopefully, they create the same atmosphere at the Ageas and down in Taunton.”
STUART BROAD isn’t “rolling back the years” in this Ashes series.
He’s just doing what he has ALWAYS done best – leading England’s bowling attack.
That’s the view of Peter Moores, the coach who first paired Broad and Jimmy Anderson as the spearheads for England in a Test in New Zealand way back in 2008.
No one could have foreseen that 15 years later the pair would still be at it – with a grand total of 1,284 Test wickets between them. But as
Broad closes in on 600 wickets, Moores believes that his influence on this series has already been far bigger than just the scalps he has taken.
“I’m not sure he’s ‘rolling back the years’ because he’s always pretty good in an England shirt, isn’t he?,” said Moores, now head coach of Broad’s county, Nottinghamshire.
“He has this ability to peak at the right time around the big series. He’s a leader. Yes, Ben Stokes is the captain of that side, but Broady is leading that bowling attack.
“He loves playing Australia, it’s everything about him, really. He’s a tactician. He’s a games player.
“W h e n he was playing for us, I remember him doing an interview after one of our games and saying that he had been practising his out-swinger for Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.
“It’s classic Broad that he ends up nicking Labuschagne off in the First Test with that exact ball. That’s Stuart. He plays the game on and off the field in some ways. And he plays it very well.
“He’s at you, Stuart, he’s at you all the time as a player. He always has a plan. Like all great bowlers he’s an eternal optimist too.”
You have had to be one of those to keep a level head through the first three matches of this amazing series. The pendulum has swung so violently between hope and despair that it has been tough to keep up with it at times. Broad,