Two days on from obliterating the stumps of No11 batsman Nathan Lyon – the wicket that saw the Ashes regained at Trent Bridge after 599 days in Australian hands – and the England fast bowler Mark Wood remains in something of a daze.
“It still hasn’t sunk in,” he says, while trying to recall that historic moment at 11.40am on Saturday. “Something as big as that, it’s just so hard to believe it actually happened. It’s like it’s not you. But it did happen and not many people in the world can say they have done that, can they?
“I’m still pinching myself now. I’m so proud and honoured. The feeling is so difficult to explain. Your inner child comes out and you just go wild. I have watched it back since with my parents and I jump in the air, Jos Buttler grabs me and then all the other players just pile on top of me.
“My dad was asking me: ‘What is that Cookie is shouting?’ But I had no idea to be honest. It was just a load of screaming and my head was banging – it was a feeling I will never forget.”
Wood, playing in only his fifth Test, was entrusted by the captain Alastair Cook on that final morning, along with his county team-mate Ben Stokes, to claim the final three wickets that would see England take an unassailable 3-1 series lead. With one to go, he was feeling the heat until a word from Stuart Broad settled him down.
“Ben was being selfish,” he says, jokingly. “I had to bowl their last batsmen, Adam Voges, while he had the tail to go at. But he’s been my mate since our time at the Durham academy and it was really special to share that morning with him.
“I remember feeling the pressure when we were one wicket away. The crowd were cheering and the atmosphere was incredible. The first ball to Lyon was too wide, then the next one was too straight and went for four leg byes. Stuart came over told me to stop trying too hard. Then I just ran in and I think it was the quickest ball I bowled all match – 91.6mph, I think. He was in two minds, it caught the edge of the bat going to leave it and the ball was dragged on to the stumps.
“It was the best feeling ever. It won us the Ashes. I can’t believe it has happened to me. In the same way, I don’t think Stuart realises how special that spell of his was that first morning.”
Broad, the senior bowler in the absence of Jimmy Anderson, had all but sealed the match in that spell Wood refers too, claiming eight for 15 before lunch on the first day as Australia were bowled out for 60 in the space of 18.3 overs before going on to lose by an innings and 78 runs.
“We sat in the dressing room and Stuart kept saying to me: ‘You’ve just won the Ashes.’ I just couldn’t believe it, having played only five Tests. There are some absolute legends in the game who haven’t won it but somehow I have. It’s just so strange.”
Amid the lap of honour was the first sighting all series of Wood’s imaginary horse; the steed that has earned cult status among England supporters since first he spoke to the Guardian about it on Durham’s pre-season trip to Abu Dhabi in March. “I managed to hold off doing it all series and then Alastair put his arm around me when we were walking round the ground in the lap of honour and told me to do it. So I checked the grass to see if it the going was soft or firm, and then gave him a ride around the bend. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it. I still haven’t got a name for him. I cannot decide if it’s a horse or a pit pony, coming from Ashington.”
Wood would go on to spend more than two hours mixing with fans after the presentation ceremony. “Meeting all the supporters was great, it was great to see so many people hang around,” he says. “It’s so weird people want my autograph and they were requesting the horse in their selfies.
“It’s fantastic, there’s just nothing about it you can’t enjoy. The fans are so supportive and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all. I was starving afterwards though and the 10 extra large Domino’s pizzas that Ben ordered to the dressing room went down well. I was pretty pleased with that.”
Wood nearly missed out, of course. Having sat out the win at Edgbaston amid concerns over the workload on his troublesome left ankle, the 25-year-old saw his replacement, Steven Finn, claim eight wickets. But Anderson’s side-strain reopened the door and prompted a fitness saga in the days leading up to Trent Bridge.
After painkilling injections to the joint, Wood was always confident of playing but during a fitness test with the bowling coach Ottis Gibson on the Monday, reports surfaced that he was grimacing throughout. “Some of the Aussies were saying I wasn’t going to be fit. Maybe they were trying to get into our heads. But just because I don’t smile 24/7 didn’t mean something was wrong. I was fine.”
From there, and on the recommendation of Gibson to Trevor Bayliss, Wood was given the new ball alongside Broad, backing up a two-wicket burst in the first over from his senior partner by removing David Warner, caught behind, with his second ball.
“It’s a huge compliment to get the new ball for England,” he says. “I’d played one series and here I was opening the bowling for my country. I was honoured to be given the chance and hearing Jerusalem that morning, the hairs were standing up on the back of my neck.”
Wood’s contribution in the Test was not just with the ball, having scored 28 with the bat on the second morning as nightwatchman, with the pick of his five fours coming with a glorious drive over cover off Mitchell Johnson.
”That was the best shot I have ever played,” he says. “As I hit it I knew, it was sweet and I tried to act cool and professional. When it hit the boundary rope I thought: ’Hold up, I don’t think I’ll get many more pitched up from here.’ But I was pleased I could chip in with runs – it wasn’t about surviving it was about quick runs.”
Despite his role in regaining the Ashes at Trent Bridge, Wood is still at the start of his international career and with only 29 first-class matches to his name, has his feet on the ground. There is, he insists, plenty more still to come.
“I don’t think I’ve bowled well throughout a Test yet and I haven’t taken a big five-wicket haul like the other lads,” he says. “I think I have a lot more to give and I’m desperate to do well and improve. A year ago I was in a bad place in terms of injury and I never thought I would be where I am now. Hopefully I can continue on that upward trend.”
