England’s Mark Wood. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Mark Wood during the practice session ahead of the 3rd T20 Cricket match between India and England at Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Monday January 27, 2025.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

The England bowling attack has been told not to worry about leaking runs and rather just focus on taking wickets against an ultra-aggressive Indian batting unit, senior pacer Mark Wood said on Monday.

Wood, who is in the middle of his first international commitment since July, has bowled decently in the series thus far. Fellow pacer Jofra Archer, however, conceded as many as 60 runs in four overs in the previous game in Chennai with Tilak Varma taking him to the cleaners.

India have taken their T20 game to the next level under skipper Suryakymar Yadav and England must find a way to counter them in third T20I here on Tuesday. India lead the five match series 2-0.

“We’ll just be trying to take wickets. I don’t think (Brendon) McCullum wants us to worry about runs too much, he’s all about how can we impact the game that way,” Wood said on the eve of the third T20I.

“We bowled well in the last game as a group. With the target they were chasing (167), we were always looking for that attacking option of taking wickets. Some might have went for a few runs at times but I also felt what was going to win us the game was trying to bowl them out.” England have struggled against the Indian spinners while the pace group led by Wood has posed a few challenges for the host team’s batters. Rajkot pitch usually offers plenty of runs, making it a batters versus batters contest.

“Speaking of pace against spin, I still think we’ve got one of the best spinners in the world in Adil Rashid, he’s a huge weapon for us and every time he plays, he looks like he’s going to get wickets. I wouldn’t count him out of our attack, he’s a vital part of it,” said Wood.

“And we’ve got a lot of options: Livingstone, Bethell, if he comes back. As a pace bowling group, the other night maybe there was one or two overs we might have changed but in general we kept coming at the India batters.

“One guy played exceptionally well (Tilak Varma), if the luck was slightly different: a top-edge that went for six over the wicketkeeper, if that goes straight up in the air, it’s a different story,” explained the 35-year-old.

Coming back to action after a long lay-off, Wood is satisfied with the pace he is generating but is seeking more accuracy.

“I felt a little bit hit and miss – I’ve done a couple of good things, it’s great that my pace has been up there and I feel it’s coming out my hand well but the accuracy at times hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. But when I haven’t played since August, it’s pretty much expected – I’ve played two games since then.”

“Hopefully the more I play, the better I get leading into the 50-over stuff and the Champions Trophy. I’ll keep trying my best and try to improve in training. Hopefully that narrows my focus even more.”

On India’s young guns including Varma and Abhishek Sharma, Wood added: “They play good shots. The depth of Indian batting, they have got experienced players and these young guys coming in but my concentration is on England.”

One of the most horrific of all cricket photographs shows England’s Mike Gatting after his nose was broken by a delivery from the West Indies great Malcolm Marshall in a One-Day International. Preparing to bowl the next delivery, Marshall found a bit of bone embedded in the ball.

Three days later another fast bowler, Patrick Patterson claimed four wickets on his first day in Test cricket and England lost by ten wickets. It was the first time in history a team went 5-0 down after one Test, wrote Rob Smyth.

Generations of West Indies fast bowlers left a trail of broken arms and toes, smashed ribs, fractured fingers, snapped jaws, crunched elbows as some of the world’s finest batters struggled.

So even if it was said in jest, you cannot escape the irony of West Indies’ century-maker at Trent Bridge Kavem Hodge telling England’s fast bowler Mark Wood, “Hey I have a wife and kids at home.” Wood was bowling consistently over 150 kmph.

Since ball-tracking data became available in 2006, an over Wood bowled to Hodge was the quickest recorded in England. But the track was good and the bounce wasn’t disconcerting.

Fiercest and finest over

It wasn’t always so when the West Indies fast men of yore were bowling. One over bowled by Michael Holding to England’s Geoff Boycott in Barbados 1981 has been anointed the fiercest and finest in Test cricket. Boycott was beaten the first five balls. The sixth prised his off stump out of the ground. It was said that Boycott was good enough to make zero.

Frank Keating wrote, “The hateful half-dozen had been orchestrated into one gigantic crescendo. Boycott looked round, then as the din assailed his ears, his mouth gaped and he tottered as if he’d seen the Devil himself. Then slowly he walked away, erect and brave and beaten.”

In the days when such things were allowed, I loved to stand behind the nets so I could appreciate sheer pace. It was a treat to watch the great West Indies bowlers from Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshall to Joel Garner from close up. Aware the ball could tear through the net, I stood at an angle (and at a safe distance) so I could take in both the pace and the batter’s reaction.

Scary Patterson

By far the fastest bowler I saw was Patterson, a few months after he had torn the England batting apart in a 5-0 Test series win. It was frightening, and my respect for batters like Sunil Gavaskar and Graham Gooch went up manifold.

“I knew if I got hit by any of his deliveries, I could die on the spot,” Krishnamahcari Srikkanth said of Patterson whom he faced bravely in Sharjah and in home series, “I survived only because of my reflexes.”

“Patrick has muscles in places where other man simply do not have places,” wrote Frances Edmonds in her book on the tour.

There are few more thrilling sights on a cricket field than a fast bowler in flow. It appeals to something primal in us, affording us a glimpse of something refined for modern sensibilities. None of us likes fast bowling said an English batter, but some of us don’t let on. Opening batters are natural fits on psychiatrist’s couches; to be unaffected requires the kind of mind and skill not available to all.

Former England opener Steve James once said, “I was scared of fast bowling. Or to be precise, I was scared of being hurt by fast bowling. I am pretty sure many other batters had similar feelings, but how many admit it?”

The death of Australian Phil Hughes from a bouncer in a first class game has made the reaction to fast bowling more rooted in common sense and openness.

In general, as studies have shown, a batter has 0.6 seconds to work out the line of the ball, figure out its likely course, decide on the stroke, and then for the limbs to receive that information from the brain before a stroke is played. Speed often defeats reactions, as fast bowler John Snow said.

However you look at it, a West Indies batter reminding an English fast bowler of those waiting at home is simply delightful!

England’s Joe Root (left) and teammate Harry Brook. File
| Photo Credit: Ap

Seven players, including Harry Brook, were among 29 England cricketers who were awarded central contracts by the ECB for the first time, while premier all-rounder and Test captain Ben Stokes was given a one-year contract on Tuesday.

The deal pre-dated from October 1 this year also includes a first-of-its-kind multi-year contracts, which were offered to 18 players including Brook, Joe Root and recuperating pacer Jofra Archer.

Apart from Brook, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue received the contract for the first time.

Pacer Carse on Monday was named as a replacement for injured Reece Topley in England’s squad for the on-going World Cup.

Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket, Rob Key, said: “We are rewarding those players who we expect to make a significant impact over the coming years playing for England.

They will play a pivotal role in England’s efforts over the next few years.”

England’s new multi-year central contracts:

Three-year contract: Joe Root, Mark Wood, Harry Brook.

Two-year contract: Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jonathan Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

One-year contract: Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Robinson, Reece Topley.

Developmental contract: Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood, John Turner.