"It hurt everybody" - Mark Wood motivated to bamboozle India after horrible World Cup

England pacer Mark Wood is yet to get over his team’s debatable performance in the ICC World Cup 2023. They started the tournament as the defending champions and among the favorites to win the title. However, in the end, they finished seventh on the points table even below Afghanistan.

England’s lowest point in the campaign was their loss to Afghanistan. Overall, they won just three games and lost six. They lost to New Zealand, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Australia. England won against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Netherlands.

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Addressing the pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test against India, Wood spoke about England‘s performance in the recently concluded ODI World Cup. Mark Wood played seven of England’s nine group matches, taking six wickets at an average of 58.16. His economy rate of 6.46 was the second-highest among the English seamers, after Sam Curran’s 8.07 from three games.

“I think it hurt everybody. I’ve texted Woakesy, Jos and other lads in that group. We came here with big expectations and we didn’t live up to it. Nowhere near up to it. It just didn’t go well. We wanted that chance to create something as a group and we fell well short,” said Wood.

“I was really upset with it, after the first week I got home. When you go from game to game, you’re disappointed but then you’re like ‘right, it’s the next game, then the next game’. For about a week once I got home it was, ‘why did I do that’ or ‘why was this happening’, ‘what did we do that for’. It really hurt for a while, but that’s why that was the hunger to come back into this environment. I’m ready to try to prove that was just a one-off,” he further added.

Ready To Go: Mark Wood

Wood has had his own injury concerns but is part of the England squad for the Test series against India. After the World Cup debacle, the England pacer said that his team has a point to prove coming back to the cub-continental conditions.

“I feel like I’ve got a point to prove a little bit here. Very disappointed with that whole campaign, personally and as a team. Conditions might not be favourable for me, but I’ll be trying to put a better show than I did at the World Cup,” he added.

Wood has played 31 Test matches but this is his very first Test match in India. He has played just one Test match against India taking five wickets in the game. Overall, he has 104 wickets in the format. The pacer spoke about the team’s training in Abu Dhabi to get adjusted to the conditions in India. He also said that he along with his teammates are ready to go in this series.

“I’m ready to go. Like a lot of the boys, we’ve done a lot of preparation in Abu Dhabi, a lot of fitness in the winter months behind closed doors. So yeah I feel fit and ready to go,” said Wood at the press conference.

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