Outdoor fielding drills in Durham have left Mark Wood wondering whether he will land in Antigua next week with frostbite but, more broadly, England’s fastest bowler – consistently the world’s fastest on the speed gun – is hot property. Wood was the sole tourist to enhance his reputation during a chastening Ashes campaign, claiming 17 wickets, sustaining remarkable speeds, edging a duel with Marnus Labuschagne and signing off with a six-fer in Hobart. The market then spoke last Saturday with a £735,000 deal in the Indian Premier League.
The auction experience took a strange turn when Wood and his wife, Sarah, were forced to watch at home like church mice while their two-year-old son, Harry, took an unplanned nap. Lucknow Super Giants won out – Andy Flower, their head coach, getting his man – but the celebrations had to be muffled. “We were about to go away for the weekend for a wedding anniversary I missed in Australia but the IPL auctioneer falling ill on stage paused everything and delayed us setting off,” says Wood, en route to his latest tune-up in chilly Chester-le-Street.
“Harry was meant to sleep in the car but just conked out on the sofa before my name came up. I remember Sarah shouting – but also whispering – ‘Get back here now,’ as I was putting some dishes in the sink. After a quiet start to the bidding, suddenly it moved fast and the numbers went up.
“As soon as the final amount was confirmed Sarah asked what it was in pounds – I might have to freeze all our accounts so it doesn’t disappear. But we’re delighted. It’s a weird experience. It feels like a computer game – almost not real, like transfers on Football Manager – but it’s also very real when you get signed.”
Though wary of workloads and time away, Wood describes the IPL as something that, at 32, sets up his family financially; a case of striking while his stock and pace are high. For a working-class lad from Ashington, who has never shirked in the quest for 90mph-plus and repeatedly overcome a rebellious body en route, this top-up to an improved England central contract means the rewards are not coming only in the shape of wickets.
After a solitary game for Chennai in 2018, Wood also wants to feel the IPL’s cricketing benefits: new teammates at a start-up franchise, the reunion with Flower, a no-nonsense coach he admires and who championed him when with England Lions, and the chance to develop his short-form game under pressure, with an eye on this year’s T20 World Cup.
Thoughts are currently on England’s three-Test series against West Indies next month, however, and form brings with it responsibility now Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have been dropped. “I was shocked,” says Wood, who with 25 caps is the second most experienced seamer after Chris Woakes (42). “I didn’t see it coming at all. It will be weird those two not being on tour; a first for me. Even when injured they normally stay in the group.
“But I know they’ll be there on text if I need advice. And if they see something, they’d message too. They’re England fans, I know they’ve been there a long time but they still just want England to win and I’m 100% sure they’ll be back.”
After Ollie Robinson (nine caps) and Craig Overton (four), come two rookies in Matthew Fisher and Saqib Mahmood. For Wood it will be a case of collaboration – Joe Root and the bowling coach, Jon Lewis, will also be involved – and perhaps the type of strategic reset that Andrew Strauss, the interim director of cricket, had in mind.
Wood says: “As bowlers we’re going to have to assess and make our own decisions as we go. Woakesy, I’m sure, will step up and lead the group well. It will feel new and different. We may get compared to how [Anderson and Broad] have done things in the past, but I’m not in their class. We can’t try to bowl like them, they’re so good it’s nigh on impossible. We can just give the best account of ourselves.”
It was three years ago in the Caribbean that, after years of promise but frequent injury setbacks, Wood did exactly that. The decision to lengthen and smooth out his run-up was vindicated with a searing spell in St Lucia and a maiden Test five-wicket haul, something that leaves him “gutted” the island does not play host this time.
Since the start of that Test match in 2019 he has claimed 38 wickets at 22 away from home, ransacking nine in Johannesburg in early 2020 and completing the recent Ashes campaign with six for 37 via a short-ball barrage in Tasmania. But such was the nature of the final 4-0 scoreline in Australia, that any satisfaction was tempered.
“You don’t feel high when you’re in a dressing room that’s getting hammered,” he says. “And especially against your biggest rivals. It was so deflating. I left Australia knowing I’d bowled my heart out but effort is a non-negotiable. I was exhausted. Ashes cricket is a different intensity, especially when you’re losing. But I managed to get the ball and a stump from that final Test match and have given it to my mam and dad [Angie and Derek] to say thanks for everything; the endless hours spent helping my career, the car journeys, the back garden cricket and the like.”
Among the mistakes made by England was Wood’s absence on a flat pitch in Adelaide while the series was live. He voices no complaints, however, understanding the caution around his fitness record and the (misplaced) belief the pink ball would swing.
The recent sacking of Chris Silverwood as head coach is one he felt personally. “It’s sad. Spoons was so supportive of me,” he says. “I came on leaps and bounds since he first came on board as bowling coach [in 2018]. He always made my work fun and never put pressure on me. You never want anyone to lose their job and it’s so hard as a player when management cop it for your failures.
“That’s especially how I felt after the Melbourne defeat. There was a lot of heat from home, from supporters and from the media all questioning Spoons and [Joe] Root. When you don’t perform as a team, it doesn’t sit well. To see Rooty slumped in a chair after that game – or Spoons fielding tough questions – it hurts the group as a whole.”
Wood proved his hardiness, playing four of the five Tests and maintaining an average speed of 89mph. Though his skiddy trajectory from a 5ft 11in frame leaves little margin for error in terms of length, Wood’s skills are growing and the CricViz analysts state with confidence he is now the quickest around.
“I dunno about that,” says Wood. “I’ve faced [South Africa’s] Anrich Nortje and [New Zealand’s] Lockie Ferguson – they are rapid. And, OK, I’ve had a decent series but to be the best you have to do series after series like Jimmy and Broady. And I don’t want to be remembered as a good trier, I want to be remembered as a good cricketer. I’ve got a lot more to learn. Maybe with the wind up my back on cold day in Durham [I’m the quickest].”
With that Wood heads off for his latest bracing tune-up in the north-east with the promise of warmer climes just around the corner.
