Mark Wood has considered driving straight from Perth to Brisbane – a 2,500 mile (4,000 km) journey over four days – just to fill the extra time created by the chastening start to England’s much-hyped Ashes moonshot.
The fast bowler was among a side left “shellshocked” by the galling batting collapse on the second day at Perth Stadium that allowed Australia to power to a one-nil series lead through Travis Head’s remarkable 69-ball century.
A nervous flyer, and with the two-day finish having opened up an 12-day gap before the day-night second Test starts at the Gabba on 4 December, Wood went as far as to look into how long it would take to make the journey by road – only to realise the scale of the journey involved.
“If I could drive across the country, I would,” said the 35-year-old, speaking to former teammate Stuart Broad on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast. “I did speak to a local who said if you go across the country, that’s a big danger. So you’d have to drive around the coast. But I did look at it.”
England are yet to announce whether any first-team players will divert to Canberra for the two-day pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI next weekend. Wood, a precious asset only just back from knee surgery in March, will be kept in cotton wool but the batters have been given the option to play.
Both the result and the nature of the two-day defeat at Perth Stadium has left a good number of the 9,000 England supporters who made the trip angered and triggered by a fair degree of ridicule in the Australian media. In the immediate aftermath, the mood inside the England dressing room was just as bleak.
“When you first get back in, it’s not that bit where you start evaluating,” Wood said. “Shellshocked is the right word. Some lads choose to sit down, some lads start packing their kit. I sat down for five minutes. It looks like you’re gazing [into space] but you’re just thinking in your head.
“When Ben Stokes gets back [from media duties], we sit in a circle at the end of the dressing room. But there’s nothing I can say that will make it sound better. If I say we’re quite level, people aren’t going to be happy with that.
“If I say it’s really emotional then people will say: ‘Why can’t you be level and go on to the next game?’ What I can say is we speak honestly together. Everyone is open.
“I feel we know this is one of five [Tests]. There has to be a reflection of what has gone on but also to know that we did some good things and we take those into the next game. We have been hit hard in round one but we have more rounds to throw some back.”
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Given the nature of the batting – including a collapse of four for 11 after lunch on day two when leading by 105 runs and appearing to be in charge – those good things almost exclusively refer to day one and a bowling performance that saw Australia rolled for 132 all out in 45.2 overs.
The likes of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green were all struck on the body or head – an early blast of heat from what is England’s quickest attack since ball-tracking was introduced back in 2006.
“I definitely feel this team has 20 wickets in it – the makeup of the team has been designed to take 20 wickets in these conditions,” Wood said. “As a bowling group, we can take a lot of confidence from that game and it being a day-night Test in Brisbane, we know around night time we can zip it around. And if we zip around at pace, that can make it difficult.
“Australia will have confidence from that win – as a group that will give them a lift. Batters will be more confident. It’s up to us as a bowling group to fight fire with fire and try to knock them over again.”
