“I was panicking,” Wood admitted the morning after the game. “You just don’t want to take it to heart… I bowled 13 balls yesterday and one of them was a wicket and that’s the ball I didn’t no-ball. If any of the others had been a no-ball I’d probably be sitting here thinking ‘It doesn’t matter because I can do anything, but it harms the team because I take wickets with that ball.
“That disappoints me. If (Muncy) continues… he reverse sweeps Rash and every time he does that, I think, ‘Oh, that’s my fault again.’ That’s the feeling I don’t like. It disappoints me. ” My teammates were like, ‘Oh, I went too far. I think, ‘I can’t believe I did that.’ In reality, I rarely work diligently on such things. , England’s bowling coach) said, ‘It’s okay, keep going. I’m saying, ‘No problem.’ You’d think 0 for 11 in T20s wouldn’t be bad. 1 out of 10 looks much better. “Yesterday there was very little difference.”
“I was disappointed with the new ball and felt it could be detrimental to the team,” he said. “I will address this in training before the next game. It will be a team effort. Whether I mix and match in the next game, I will be ready whenever the captain or the team needs me.”
Wood is not expected to play in every game of the England campaign as conditions and match-ups will influence selection. He’s trying a slightly slower ball variation in his second match against Scotland. Munsey hit the first of these balls through covers, and the second hit the splice of his bat a good length.
“It seemed okay,” he said. “I thought the wicket yesterday would be different, it was tough when you were on it, but when you bowled it was quite slow because the ball on the wicket was a bit slow. So the cutter rather than the slow ball became more effective. Munsey played one off the back foot for two and Knocked me one that’s a little bit grabby, so it’s kind of adapting to my game so I like to do it as much as possible, but I’ve got to have a little bit more skill with it as well.”
“’Pudsy’ has performed that way in most conditions, but it’s not necessarily a slow, sluggish ball, it still drives the ball (into the field) but it might spit it out a little bit or lose maybe 6 or 7 mph in catch speed. That’s what I’m talking about. I tried it yesterday and it felt ok, so try again and land in a good spot.
“I’ve bowled before, but not as accurately as I could, so I’m trying to be more accurate. You’re not expecting something to happen as you bowl, the best player picks everything, but you’re in a good place for that too. We have to land it.”
“I think he still feels he fits in with the group,” Wood said of Pollard. “But the little things he said, everyone listened to. He has an aura, he is very respected in the group because he has done a lot. I think going forward it will be important to know what’s going on. He commented on the pitch yesterday . About the bowling cutter and the fact that it doesn’t respond when you dip it in there. It may seem quite obvious, but it’s the little things people say – it can make a big difference.”
“(Flintoff) approaches people individually, pulls them aside and keeps things very simple. He told me he didn’t have a slow ball, and I thought I would rarely throw a slow ball. He told me I said he has three balls – he’s a bouncer, he’s a quick yorker, he’s good to have in the group, he’s got a natural aura, he and Pollard are a clash of titans!”
Speaking of big clashes, points sharing with Scotland could have a huge impact on Group B and Saturday’s game against Australia.
“It puts a different spin on it. If we win that game compared to when we lose it, it has a different look and feel. If we lose, I’m sure there will be questions in your media like the last World Cup in India. So that’s it. “It will be an important game for us and we will try desperately to win.”
Melinda Farrell is a journalist and broadcaster.
