Wood was well prepared for Aussies' bouncer barrage

Australia's men's team brains trust expected England pace demon Mark Wood to come roaring into the Ashes at some stage with ball in hand, but it was his similarly swift intervention with the bat that proved just as crucial to his team's three-wicket win at Headingley.

Wood, who was overlooked for James Anderson in the opening Test and ruled himself out of the second with swelling to his right elbow, was deservedly named player of the match in the third Test where he skittled Australia, taking 5-34 in the first innings and 2-66 in the second.

The injury-plagued 33-year-old's ability to bowl at extreme pace and swing the ball when conditions suited was hardly a surprise to Australia given he finished the 2021-22 Ashes series in Australia as his team's leading wicket-taker with 17 at 26.65 from three appearances.

However, not even Wood himself expected he might also play a couple of pivotal knocks with the bat given his career return of 641 runs (average 16) and the comparatively modest strike rate of 66.29 per 100 balls faced in his 28 Tests prior to Headingley.

But with England 7-142 at lunch on day two and 121 in arrears, Wood emerged after the break and pummelled 24 from eight balls to snatch the initiative from Australia's bowlers and allow his team to ultimately reduce the first-innings disparity to just 26.

As Australia coach Andrew McDonald noted after Headingley, it was one of several phases in the match that proved decisive in the final outcome.

And the reason Wood was able to land so many powerful blows both literally and metaphorically on his rival fast bowlers in both batting innings – he clubbed an unbeaten 16 from eight balls to see England home on Sunday – stems from the plan of attack used against him.

From the moment Wood arrived at the wicket, he was met with a barrage of short-pitched balls which Australia believed would bring his undoing as he is renowned for taking them on rather than riding them out.

But it played into the hands of England's combative number nine who had spent his time on the sidelines earlier in the Ashes contest preparing for precisely that battle.

"All I’ve done is practice bouncers for two weeks," Wood said in the aftermath of his Headingley heroics. "I haven’t practised anything pitched up, that’s genuine.

"'Colly' (Paul Collingwood, England assistant coach) has been slinging those yellow (rubber-based) balls.

"They sting but don’t hurt (and) you get used to playing the shot, getting in strong positions, and waiting as much as I can to do well."

The benefits of that preparatory work were obvious from the first ball Wood faced from Pat Cummins last Friday, which he hung back waiting for and belted over midwicket for six, immediately followed by an upper-cut for four and another thunderous pull for six more.

By that stage, it appeared clear Wood was ready for anything aimed at his upper body but the bouncers (and runs) kept coming as was the case in the final overs of England's run chase when Wood hooked Cummins into the crowd second ball he faced to all-but seal victory.

Asked whether Australia's quicks might have been better served employing the tactics used by Wood himself, who bowled fast and full at the back of Australia's first innings to snare 4-5 from 16 balls, McDonald defended the short-ball ploy which he claimed was conditions-based.

"The short ball's been used more regularly in this series than I've ever seen before and with the short ball comes the risk of runs," he said.

"That sometimes happens – shorter boundaries, faster outfield, and the short ball probably didn't reap the same rewards with (England's) lower order as it has but I still think it's going to be a plan that's employed throughout the series.

"On day one, Mark Wood had ball speed and the ball was shifting, the overheads were pretty thick and you tend to pitch the ball up a lot more in those conditions.

"And when the sun comes out and the ball's not shifting as much, you've probably got less options on the fuller side so we've got to always balance that.

"We critique ourselves pretty harshly, so we'll be looking into that."

When Australia's players return from their pre-planned breaks between the third and fourth Tests – with squad members travelling as far afield as France, Spain, Holland and Scotland over coming days – they will also need to find a way of withstanding Wood's 150kph-plus thunderbolts with the ball.

The impact that truly fast bowling can wield is graphically highlighted by the fact England have won just three Ashes Tests since 2015, and all of those victories have been underpinned by hostile first-innings spells by genuine quicks.

In 2019 it was Jofra Archer's 6-45 on day one at Headingley and 6-62 when it was Australia's turn to bat at The Oval that set up England's wins, as did Wood's day one demolition last Thursday in which the visitors lost 6-23 from 51 balls.

But as Australia have shown in winning 14 of the 18 Ashes Tests played since 2015, with either Archer or Wood having played in half those games, the influence of pure pace can be nullified if batters endure for long enough to ensure the opposition quicks are forced into bowling multiple spells.

"The plans we had leading in, they'll remain the same," McDonald said when ask what Australia had in mind to combat Wood's hostility in the remaining Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval.

"It's about executing it and in the first innings (at Headingley) he was swinging the ball at pace and that's a challenge for top-order, lower-order.

"You can plan for things, but when you get out there you've got to be able to adapt and adjust.

"He's a good bowler, he gives them variety in their attack, and I think if we can put a few overs into him we saw that the ball speed can drop off a little bit.

"But when he's got his tail up, he's going to be a handful so I think deny him any opportunities to make inroads and keep him out there a bit longer."

The other factor that has restricted Wood to just 29 Tests (and 97 wickets) across an eight-year international career is a fragile body that rarely allows him to play multiple matches in succession.

He admits he felt soreness following his workload at Headingley, his first Test outing in a year, but notes his main injury concern ahead of the fourth Test starting at Old Trafford on July 19 is the exterior damage done to his left elbow from tumbling to the ground after most balls he bowled at Leeds.

Wood said he would also rely on the experience he gleaned in Australia 18 months ago, where he played the last three Ashes Tests that were scheduled across as many weeks, to ensure he's fit for the remaining matches in this series.

Australia have their own bowler selection issues to grapple with, with seamer Josh Hazlewood in line for a recall to the starting XI having missed out at Headingley where Scott Boland was preferred.

Having come into his maiden Ashes campaign in the UK – where conditions were expected to suit his nagging length and subtle seam movement – with a barely believable Test bowling average of 14.57, Boland has taken 2-231 from 47 overs this series at an average of 115.50.

The 34-year-old has been targeted by England's ultra-aggressive batters who made a point of coming down the pitch in the opening Test at Edgbaston in a ploy to throw the normally unflappable seamer off his length.

"I thought he kept them in their crease," McDonald said when asked how he assessed Boland's 0-84 off 21 overs at Headingley.

"In the first game, it was more about the way they used their feet to him and I think he was able to keep them at home a lot more often (in Leeds).

"I thought he bowled well, went past the edge a lot, it could have been a different game.

"He didn't have much luck, a French cut (by Jonny Bairstow on the final day) so sometimes it doesn't go your way.

"But as a collective, I thought the way our bowling unit functioned was very impressive."

One option Australia are unlikely to pursue is to omit off-spinner Todd Murphy who bowled just 9.3 of his team's 102.3 overs at Headingley (1-49) having been elevated for his maiden Ashes match after frontline spinner Nathan Lyon's campaign ended with a badly torn right calf at Lord's.

"We like to have a balanced attack and it gives you options, you can take pace out of the game and you become one dimensional – whether it be with the right-arm bowlers, or just pace bowlers in general – without the ability to turn to a spinner," McDonald said.

"I think that leaves you a bit short at times.

"England played a very aggressive side (at Headingley) with Moeen (Ali, spin-bowling allrounder) at seven and four quicks, but they value the spinner as well just to change the pace of the game.

"We'll have to assess that, but as it sits at the moment, we do like to have the spinner in the team."

2023 Qantas Ashes Tour of the UK

First Test: Australia won by two wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 43 runs

Third Test: England won by three wickets

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood