Mark Wood is fully fit and available for selection in the first Ashes Test on Friday, having come through an extended spell of bowling at full pace in the Perth Stadium nets without any problems – before emerging with his pads on to have a bat minutes later – as England’s seamers found conditions at the ground so good they were “licking their lips”.
Wood’s left leg was heavily strapped throughout, as it has been since he returned after surgery to that knee in March, but the tightness in his hamstring that concerned him during the first day of England’s warm-up against the Lions at Lilac Hill last week has dissipated. It is believed that the scan he had last Friday was primarily intended to alleviate the player’s fitness worries, with the team’s medical staff never hugely concerned.
Jamie Smith was one of the batters who faced Wood in the nets on Tuesday. “He was absolutely rapid today, I can tell you that first-hand,” he said. “He’s near enough full tilt, so it’s good signs for us. It feels like, if he’s good to go and the management feels he’s good to go, I don’t see why [he wouldn’t play].”
Tuesday’s training session was England’s first at Perth Stadium, after the players were given two days off to get over the exertions of their warm-up. Though they have had only distant views of the ground’s drop-in pitch, the squad’s seamers found conditions in the nets much more to their liking than the softer ground in last week’s practice game – though Jofra Archer, following his own training plan, did not bowl at all, his involvement restricted to batting and running.
Josh Tongue said: “Like any fast bowler I like a bit of pace and bounce in any wicket, especially after last week at Lilac Hill, which obviously wasn’t as quick. Bowling in the nets, it was a lot more true bounce and a lot more pace in the wicket. I was batting next to Smudge [Jamie Smith] when he was facing Woody and he was definitely getting it through. I think as bowlers, you definitely lick your lips.”
While English bowlers have traditionally struggled in Australia – of those who have bowled at least 25 overs in Ashes matches here this century, the top 12 by bowling average are all Australian – Tongue is convinced the current pack can prosper. “I feel like the group of bowlers we’ve got now, the likes of Jofra and Woody with the X factor of pace and bouncy wickets, the skills we’ve got as a group – I think we can give it a good shot,” he said.
Wood has not played a first-class game since the first Test against Sri Lanka in August 2024 but Australia’s Cameron Green, who has played only three times, and bowled a total of 20 overs, since August, said this should not be a concern. “I probably would prefer a few more competitive overs but at the same time I think it’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “I think you come into a series so fresh, and especially in a five-Test series you want to be as fresh as you can at the back end.”
As wicketkeeper, Smith is also looking forward to playing in Australian conditions. “I’m quite excited, hearing about a lot of pace and bounce,” he said. “I spent a lot of time last summer in conditions that were reasonably slow and low, standing a lot closer than normal. It’d be nice here, hopefully with that pace and bounce, we can stand a little bit further back and that should be an enjoyable challenge.”
Smith has said that he would “absolutely not” attempt a long-distance stumping of the type so controversially executed by Australia’s Alex Carey on Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s in 2023, if mainly for practical rather than ethical reasons. “Out here I’d be too far back to hit the stumps,” he said. “When I try to do that stuff in white-ball games I’m useless at it. I wouldn’t hit the stumps anyway.”
Carey himself refused to be drawn into a conversation about his infamous dismissal of Bairstow – “I think the series is shaping up to be a pretty good one, there’s not too much hype that needs to be put on it” – but was prepared to provide an emphatic endorsement for his South Australia teammate Brendan Doggett, the 31-year-old seamer in line to make his international debut this week as a result of Josh Hazlewood’s hamstring injury.
“He’s a fantastic teammate, really experienced and bowling as well as he ever has,” Carey said. “In his last five first-class games he’s taken four five-fers, so he comes into this squad with great form. If he does get his chance, I think this wicket will suit him.”
