Watch: Mark Wood smoked three sixes in eight balls in an extraordinary post-lunch passage of play on the second day at Headingley in the third Ashes Test today (July 7).
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With Chris Woakes out hooking on the stroke of lunch, Wood’s first ball was also the first ball after the break, with five balls left in Mitchell Starc’s over. The No.9 proceeded to hit the first three of them for six, four and six, with 16 runs knocked off England’s deficit in an instant.
Australia’s short-ball ploy had worked up to that point, but Wood was wise to the plan, and smashed twice over the leg-side while also carving through point.
He then played and missed at a yorker before carving two. When he regained the strike in the next over, the assault resumed, with Cummins top-edged over fine leg. Two balls later, another top-edge went straight up, and the fun was over.
Wood’s was the fastest score of 20 or more by an England batter, and only one player, India’s Umesh Yadav, has scored more runs in an innings at a higher strike rate, when he hit 31 off 10 against South Africa at Ranchi in 2019.
Wood’s innings kickstarted a profitable post-lunch period for England, with Ben Stokes carrying on the carnage. From 142-7 at lunch, they ended up posting 237, 26 runs shy of Australia’s first innings total.
Watch Mark Wood’s blistering cameo below:
It’s never dull when Mark Wood’s involved 😅#Ashes2023pic.twitter.com/kbasvKT880
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 7, 2023
