sport news Mark Wood insists England CAN retain their T20 crown as he opens up on Jimmy ... trends now
Mark Wood is in no doubt. 'Of course it's a problem,' he says. 'Now that Broady's not playing, we have to find the next Stuart Broad. If Jimmy's not playing, we have to find the next Jimmy Anderson. I doubt there'll be anyone as good as those two.'
Wood is responding with typical honesty to the suggestion by Broad that Anderson's impending retirement from Test cricket will leave a 'huge hole' in England's attack — an attack in which Wood's fire and brimstone now becomes even more crucial.
'It obviously is a problem because Broad and Anderson have got 1,300 wickets between them,' he tells Mail Sport. 'But you can't just do nothing about it. We have to try to use their experience, and say, 'What did they do well, what worked for them?' Then we have to pass it on to the lads coming through.'
If Broad and Anderson have felt like permanent fixtures in England's fast-bowling constellation, Wood has been its shooting star, flitting in and out, drawing gasps from those lucky enough to catch a glimpse. And that has been the deal: the strain placed on his 34-year-old body means he has played only 34 Tests of a possible 116 since his debut in 2015.
Yet speed remains of the essence. Last summer, his opening spell against Australia at Headingley touched 96.5mph, accounted for the previously immovable Usman Khawaja and changed the course of the Ashes.
Mark Wood has opened up on the future of England's Test team without Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, while looking forward to the T20 World Cup
Their absences will pile more pressure on Wood, who has had to manage his work load as a bowler in the side
'You have moments when you feel everything's in sync,' he says. 'The captain moves the field, but you don't care. When you're under pressure, you want 15 fielders. That day, Stokesy could have moved them anywhere he wanted.'
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Even so, not everyone was impressed. When the former England quick Devon Malcolm handed Wood his leatherbound Wisden in the Lord's Long Room last month — awarded to each of the Almanack's Five Cricketers of the Year — he whispered: 'I'm still one mile an hour faster…'
But Wood knows he got the Headingley crowd going, and he wants to keep eliciting oohs and aahs — all the way through to the 2025-26 Ashes in Australia.
'Headingley is how I want to bowl,' he says. 'I don't think that's a one-off. I can do that more regularly. I'm excited by the thought
