Sri Lanka vs England 2018: Mark Wood Targets to Become a Better Bowler

Mark Wood has played 34 One Day Internationals for England and he has scalped 34 wickets in his young ODI career. Thus, it means that the Durham fast bowler has taken one wicket on an average in his every match. Consequently, Wood asked for more help from England bowling coach Chris Silverwood. Wood has a short run-up to the crease. However, he can generate good speed.

Mark Wood has a strike rate of 51.2. Thus, he is picking one wicket after every 8.3 overs which is not something, Wood is proud of. Subsequently, Wood wants to improve his record as he knows that he can do better than what he is doing.

Mark Wood has added a few yards to his run-up.

Therefore, Wood is working hard with England bowling coach Chris Silverwood.

“I said to him that although I’d played a few games for England I hadn’t taken loads of wickets. I’d taken one in a game, two in a game but I hadn’t had that five-wicket haul,” said Wood as per the quotes of Daily Mail.

Thus, Wood revealed that Chris Silverwood and he watched the footages of Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada who have done well in the recent past.

“He got a hold of the analyst and we looked at bowlers like Kagiso Rabada (of South Africa) and Pat Cummins (of Australia).

‘I’m not the same as them, they’re a lot bigger than me and I’m shorter and skiddier. But when they’re bowling quick how do they get their wickets? What kind of fields do they have? How do they get people out? It’s all about seeing how different people go about it.”

Meanwhile, Mark Wood has tried to add a couple steps to his run-up. Thus, he is able to bowl with more rhythm as he is not putting extra load on his body to generate more speed.

“Off the short run I was having to force it all the time, that meant I was putting more stress than I needed to on my body and having to ramp it up to get my top speed”.

‘I just pushed my run-up back a bit and felt I could cruise into it a little bit better, and look for more rhythm rather than being at the top end forcing it all the time. It’s a trial, I can always go back.”

Wood is part of the England One-Day side for the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. In fact, the fast bowler is not going to get favourable conditions in Sri Lanka. The first One-Dayer will take place at Dambulla on 10th October.