Joe Root and England have put together an almost entirely unblemished performance in the third Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, but Sky Sports pundit Nasser Hussain did sound one note of caution regarding the England captain’s handling of fast bowler Mark Wood.
Wood is playing his first first-class game in almost a year, since February’s St. Lucia Test against West Indies when he bowled one of the fastest spells by an England quick, and his first competitive game of any description since England’s World Cup final win in July, when he sustained a side strain.
The Durham quick has a long and chequered injury history, with stress-related ankle injuries a feature of his career. On the fourth afternoon he was pressed into bowling a spell of short-pitched bowling. Speaking to Sky Sports and Hussain after play, Wood said he “was feeling it a bit at the end”.
“You’re going to have to look after him because fast bowlers are like gold dust. They don’t just come around and you have to look after them. But you have to balance that with the skipper who wants to win a series in South Africa and a bloke, and you listen and he’s one of the loveliest blokes we’ve ever met. He’ll do whatever the team wants him to do all day long.”
