Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has compared Mark Wood to two of Australia’s finest ever speedsters, after the England quick’s blistering Ashes showing at Headingley.
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Wood took seven wickets across the third Ashes Test, which saw England claw back into the series with a 2-1 scoreline, hitting a top speed of 96.5mph and also contributed with two match-defining batting knocks. Wood received the Player of the Match award.
Speaking to the ICC Review Podcast, Ponting – who hit 41 Test centuries during an illustrious 17-year career – drew comparisons between Wood and legendary Australian fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee.
“Mark Wood is a bit like Mitchell Johnson and a bit like Brett Lee in his prime. Bowling first change, bowling quickly intimidating batsmen, getting a little bit of movement when it was there.
“He is just an absolute strike weapon.”
Johnson and Lee are the sixth and seventh highest wicket takers for Australia in Test matches, with 313 and 310 Test scalps respectively. Johnson clocked a top speed of 97.4mph, while Lee topped 100mph against New Zealand in 2005.
There were shades of Mitchell Johnson in Wood’s menacing first-innings spell at Headingley, where he ploughed through Australia’s batting order to finish with figures of 5-34 from his 11.4 overs. Johnson infamously terrorised England during a 5-0 whitewash Ashes win in 2013-14, taking 37 wickets at an average of 13.97.
The lines of comparison run even deeper, whether intentional or not, as both Lee and Johnson averaged over 20 in Tests with the bat and were capable of striking at quite the tick as well – much like Mark Wood, who averages 17 in Test matches and struck his first innings 24 off just eight deliveries in Leeds.
Lee, much like Wood, found that his body would often struggle with the demands posed by the pace he bowled. Stress fractures and side strains were ailments he became all too familiar with across his nine-year Test career.
Wood is adamant, however, that he can play three Tests on the bounce, by featuring at both Old Trafford and the Oval as England look to regain the urn this summer. The Headingley Test was his first of 2023, but Wood hopes the nine-day break between the third and fourth Ashes Tests will have given his body ample time to recover.
The fourth Test begins at Old Trafford on July 19.
