Wood has no regrets on short-pitched deliveries in Afghanistan match
England fast bowler Mark Wood said that he has no regrets on the short-pitched deliveries he made during their match against Afghanistan on Tuesday where they won by 150 runs.
This is despite his deliveries had accidentally hit Afghanistan batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi with a bouncer. Shahidi hit the turf immediately after the delivery hit the side of his helmet. However, Shahidi remained undisturbed about it when he simply changed his helmet and continued to top-score for Afghanistan.
“Well, I was concerned when I first hit him, obviously,” said Wood. “It was a bit of a bad blow and then it’s out of my hands really. You have to let the medical staff do their thing. I checked he was all right himself, (I) said ‘Are you OK?’. Then I was back in the game mode.”
“Morgy (England captain Eoin Morgan) wanted me to fire another few down. If that’s what the captain wants, you listen to orders,” continued Wood. “Once you know he (the batsman) is all right, it’s game time again.”
When the English fast bowler was told that he had smashed Shahidi’s helmet after it was hit by his delivery, Wood was happy. “I’m bowling them quite fast…for a change!”
Wood continued that his team bowled well in their match against Afghanistan.
“I thought, collectively, we bowled really well,” stated Wood. “It was difficult at times because I didn’t feel the Afghanistan batsmen were coming at us and we had to try to mix it up, get them to play a few shots. It was nice to try something different and get a few wickets.”
The right-arm fast bowler added that he was delighted for his captain who set a new world record for 17 sixes in an individual one-day international (ODI) innings.
“I was delighted for him. Coming off his back injury scare and stuff, and not knowing how he would play or feel, I was just astounded by how well he played out there,” stated Wood. “A lot of the bowlers tend to sit in the back of the dressing room and try and relax but even I came out and watched that because it was great to see on such a big occasion.”
Wood continued that how well the team is playing is all because of Morgan’s leadership.
“I know we’ve played like this for four years now, and there’s been some remarkable things,” said Wood. “But to do it in a World Cup game speaks volumes about how Eoin wants the team to play and the values we’ve kept going throughout those four years.”
England’s next match will be against Sri Lanka tomorrow at Headingley Carnegie. The home team currently have +165 odds to win the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
If you want to know more about the other team’s odds to win the tournament, check out the outright cricket odds page of Betwala.
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