Wood says that Perth defeat will sting hard for a bit but England still have four games to ‘throw some back’.
In the final four rounds of this Ashes campaign, Mark Wood has urged England to get off the ground and “throw some back” at Australia.
At the Optus Stadium, Travis Head’s haymakers sealed a two-day loss, but England’s hitters were responsible for allowing Australia off the hook after leading by 105 with nine wickets remaining in the second innings. Mike Tyson’s statement that “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” was brought to mind by Head’s 123 takedown, as an attack that had been unrelenting in their accuracy and intensity in the first inning was completely destroyed in the second.
England’s players kept a quiet profile on Sunday while they were out and about before the game. Many stayed in their hotel rooms, as much to deal with the humiliating loss as to avoid a city full of optimistic Australians and dejected English tourists who were unsure of what to do with their free time. Wood, whose 38th Test cap was his first competitive participation in nearly nine months following knee surgery in March, has urged the team to persevere even though there is yet more introspection ahead.
“We know this is one of five,” Wood told Stuart Broad on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast. “There has to be reflection of what went on, understand the disappointment but also know we did some good things in this game.
“Can we take them into the other four games? This is not one, it’s one of five. We’ve been hit pretty hard in round one, but we’ve got other rounds to try and throw some back.”
Wood acknowledged that, with the second Test at the Gabba still ten days away, he considered making the four-day drive from Perth to Brisbane. Before being persuaded differently, he even considered renting a camper van. “I did talk to a native who told me that travelling across the country is quite dangerous. You would therefore need to drive all the way around the shore. However, I did examine it.