After the damp squib that was the one‑day international against Ireland in Dublin on 8 May, the international summer properly kicks into life at Lord’s on Thursday when England take on New Zealand at Lord’s for the first of a two-match Test series. With the pitch displaying a green tinge two days before the first ball is sent down, fast bowlers are once again expected to prosper.
Two of their breed were paraded in front of the media on Tuesday. While one of them can reflect on 10 wickets in his last outing at the ground, the other has never played a competitive match there and is yet to experience the effects of the ground’s famous slope. It is something of a curiosity that the second of those is the Englishman.
Mark Wood is the uncapped quickie in question and, after a month of carrying the drinks in the Caribbean, the 25-year-old is hoping raw skills trump a lack of familiarity with the home of cricket and that he is granted a Test debut by the captain, Alastair Cook, and the caretaker coach, Paul Farbrace.
“I haven’t played here before for Durham or anything so I’m really excited,” said Wood, who made his ODI bow in Dublin. “The whole feel of the place is not something I can explain to anyone. I’ve been here twice as 12th man and as you all know, I’m used to running drinks. Hopefully this time I’m here to play. Third time lucky!”
Does the famous Lord’s slope hold any fears for a bowler with only 24 first‑class appearances under his belt? “The stumps don’t move,” Wood replied, with a smile. “I’m going to run in, try to bowl with good pace and see if I can knock the Kiwis over.”
It is certainly something his counterpart Tim Southee struggled to adapt to when, on his first Lord’s appearance in 2008 as a 19-year-old, he went wicketless. Five years later, however, the right-armer overcame those issues to claim match figures of 10-108, albeit in a 170-run defeat.
“The slope is different to anywhere else in the world – that’s the biggest thing,” said Southee, who arrived on Sunday after a spell playing for Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. “The nets out the back are no different to any other nets but then you come out in the middle and you have to react to the slope. Different people take longer, some adapt straight away.”
Should they select Wood, England will hope he fits the latter description. In an era of media-coached professional sportsmen, he is certainly a breath of fresh air. When asked why his county have produced fast bowlers such as himself, Steve Harmison and Graham Onions, he replied: “Because we’re used to hard work up there, working-class people and that.”
It appears England have found the natural successor to the now retired Graeme Swann as the joker in the pack. Just ask Christine Ohuruogu, who was on the receiving end of his penchant for a prank when the athlete was staying in the same hotel as England’s fast bowlers during their training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa, last November.
In a video that has since circulated online, the Olympic gold medallist answered her bedroom door to discover a seemingly empty wheelie bin, only for Wood to burst out and put the frighteners up her. Drunken japes on tour? Not so, with Wood a teetotaller and just naturally up for a laugh.
Caps are not handed out for humour, however, and it is Wood’s skiddy pace, generated from a short approach to the crease and a whippy action, that has led to him being retained from the Caribbean tour. Among his many idiosyncrasies – he spoke to the Guardian in March about his imaginary horse – is a quirky run-up, which he starts from a lunging position.
“It’s almost like a sprinter’s start – a little step back then quickly into my run-up before my gather,” said Wood. “It’s something I did probably when I was about 18-19, I used to have a really long run-up, and the academy coach John Windows at Durham wanted me to change my run-up slightly to be a bit more efficient and explosive. It’s worked well for me since then so I’m going to keep doing it.”
If selected, Wood faces a New Zealand side fresh from a thrilling World Cup campaign under their captain, Brendon McCullum, in which their players walked out on to the pitch exhibiting the confidence of Tony Montana in the final scene of the film Scarface. Not that Wood is intimidated by batsmen who come after him.
“You’ve got to be right on the money and concentrate really hard on what you’re doing. If you can settle into that rhythm, everything almost flows, it’s dead easy,” he said. “If a batsman wants to come hard at you and you bowl him good balls then you can get him out. If Plan A isn’t working I’ve almost always got a back-up plan I can pull out of the locker.”
If Wood gets the nod at St John’s Wood for the third seamer’s berth on Thursday, England will find out if that is the case and New Zealand, like Ohuruogu, could be in for a surprise.
