“I was panicking,” Wood admitted, speaking the morning after the match. “You just don’t want it on your mind… I bowled 13 balls yesterday, and one of them is a wicket and it’s the one I’ve no-balled. If any of the others was the no-ball, I’m probably sitting here thinking, I’ve got one-for whatever, it’s not a problem, but because I’m getting the wicket off that ball, it hurts the team.
“That’s what disappoints me. If [Munsey] goes on … he reverse sweeps Rash and every time that’s happening I’m thinking, ‘oh no, that’s my fault again’. That’s the feeling I don’t like, letting down my team-mates. I’m come in feeling, ‘oh no, I’ve overstepped, I can’t believe I’ve done that’. I very rarely overstep. In practice I’m diligent with it. [Neil Killeen, England’s bowling coach] is going, ‘It’s fine man, move on. You haven’t a problem’. To have 0 for 11 off two overs in T20, you’d think that’s not bad. But if I was a touch more on it, one for 10 looks a lot better. We were just fractions off yesterday.”
“I was disappointed with the new ball and felt it could hurt the team,” he said. “I will address it in training before the next game. It will be a squad effort, this. Whether we mix and match next game, I will be ready whenever the captain or team needs me.”
Wood doesn’t expect to play every game of England’s campaign, as conditions and match-ups influence selections. He has been working on a slightly-slower-ball variation which he pulled out in his second over against Scotland. Munsey punched the first of these through the covers, the second time the ball hit the splice of his bat off a good length.
“That seemed to go okay,” he said. “I thought yesterday’s wicket was going to be different, when you stood on it it was hard but when you bowled the ball stuck in the wicket a bit, quite slow. So it made the cutters more effective, not the slower-ball ones but the fast cutters. Munsey played one off the back foot for two and patted one back to me that gripped a little … so it’s adapting my game a little bit so it’s not just out-and-out quick as I can – I obviously like doing that – but having a bit more skill around it as well.”
“‘Pudsy’ did that well in most conditions. But not necessarily a slow slower ball, maybe a drop in pace of 6-7 mph where you’re still driving it in [to the pitch] but it spits or holds a little. That’s what I tried yesterday and felt good with it, so maybe do it again and land it in a decent area.
“I’ve bowled them before but not to the extent where I am as accurate with it, so I’m working on being more pinpoint, so not just bowling it and expecting something to happen – the best players pick up everything – but you have to land it in a good place as well.”
“I think he’s still feeling his way into the group,” Wood said of Pollard. “But the little bits he has spoken about, everyone’s listened. He carries an aura and is very respected in the group because he’s done so much and I think knowing the conditions is going to be vital going forward. He had mentioned about the pitch yesterday about bowling cutters and the fact that, if you just sort of dib it there, it doesn’t react. You need to drive it in. It’s just little things. It might seem so obvious but those little things people say – the one-percenters – can make a big difference.”
“[Flintoff] comes up to people individually, pulls them aside and keeps things very simple. He mentioned to me that he didn’t have a slower ball. And I was thinking I very rarely bowl slower balls. He told me had three balls – a bouncer, a fast yorker and a hard length. He’s great to have around the group, easy to talk to and carries that natural aura. He’s a big guy, it’s a clash of the titans with him and Pollard together!”
Speaking of big clashes, the shared points with Scotland could have huge implications for Group B and Saturday’s match against Australia.
“It puts a different spin. If we win that game compared to losing, it has a different look and feel. Lose, and I’m sure for you guys in the media there will be questions asked like the last World Cup in India, so it’ll be an important game for us and one we’ll be desperately trying to win.”
Melinda Farrell is a journalist and broadcaster