Mark Wood has emerged as a major doubt for the second Ashes Test at the Gabba, starting on Thursday, after reporting a niggle behind his left knee. Wood was the only frontline player to sit out England’s first training session in Brisbane at the Allan Border Field on Saturday.
Wood bowled 11 overs in the opening Test in Perth, which Australia won inside two days, in his first international outing for nine months.
The 35-year-old only played in that game after having scans on his left hamstring to assuage fears that he had sustained some damage while bowling eight overs in England’s solitary warm-up game, against the Lions at Lilac Hill. He had surgery on his left knee after breaking down during the Champions Trophy in February, which meant he missed the entire English season.
Wood bowled at good pace in the first innings in Perth, and although he did not take a wicket he played his part in roughing up the Australians, hitting Cameron Green on the head and Nathan Lyon on the hip. Like everyone else, he came under fire during Travis Head’s fourth-innings assault as Australia chased down 205 in only 28.2 overs.
Green was among those on the receiving end of some aggressive bowling from Wood in Australia’s first innings
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If Wood is ruled out and England want another seamer, his place will probably go to Josh Tongue, who has been sent to Canberra to play in a two-day game against a Prime Minister’s XI to ready him for a role later in the series.
After some debate, England sent only three squad members to feature in that match, none of whom played in Perth — Jacob Bethell and Matthew Potts being the others — as climatic conditions there are so different to the oppressive heat and humidity of Brisbane. Tongue, 28, may not reach Brisbane until Monday, giving him only two full days to acclimatise.
Another option, given the physically testing conditions, is to pick Will Jacks, a spin-bowling all-rounder, and leave the pace bowling to Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Ben Stokes. If Brisbane is another short game, or if spin comes into the equation for the day-time phases of play, four seamers ought to suffice, and England may appreciate the extra batting insurance of Jacks.
Jacks, the spin-bowling all-rounder, could provide England with extra batting insurance if they do not decide to replace Wood with another seamer
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“We arrived on Wednesday and as you step off the plane you get hit by heat and humidity,” Stokes said. “I liken it to almost being in Sri Lanka. Over the three days we’ve been here, we’ve been training, and got an understanding of how different this week is going to be to Perth in terms of weather and conditions. It’s more sweaty, muggier, stickier. It’s going to be harder physically.”
England have two training blocks scheduled under lights at the Gabba, as well as two day-time sessions. With the first Test finishing so quickly, they extended their practice period from three to five days.
Stokes fronting up to the media so early — he will speak again in the two days before the game — was a nod to the gravity of England’s situation, with them now probably needing three wins in the four remaining games, unless adverse weather forces a draw. He said there had been no big crisis meetings, mainly one-on-one chats.
The England captain admitted he got his tactics wrong during Australia’s run chase. “There were areas where I could have been a lot better,” Stokes said. “I’m the person who makes decisions about how we operate. On reflection, I wasn’t as clear as I am normally. Next time, I’ll be in a better place to handle something that happens so quickly.”
He conceded that England were still learning to absorb the kind of intense pressure they came under as the game turned on day two. “We don’t shrug it off and think, ‘Next time hopefully it will happen’,” he said. “We are professional sportsmen, we pride ourselves on how we go about things and the results of the games. We know we could be better. We lost a game we were in control of.
“Being [effectively] 100 for one in the third innings was an unbelievably strong position. I guess a good one [lesson] is you’ve never got enough when you’re trying to bowl out a team. If you can think of it like that, that will send guys out with a clear mind. You’ve never won until you’ve won.”
Stokes and his side are looking to bounce back in Brisbane after a bruising defeat in the first Test
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While Stokes said he was willing to accept criticism after the first Test, he believes allegations that his side’s approach has been “arrogant” — a term used by the former Australia bowler Mitchell Johnson — are not fair.
“You can call us rubbish, call us whatever you want,” he said. “We didn’t have the Test match that we wanted to. Arrogant might be a little bit too far, but that’s OK. We’ll take the rough with the smooth. I’d rather words like ‘rubbish’, but ‘arrogant’, I’m not so sure about that.”
Stokes also said he had got things “completely wrong” in referring to former players critical of England’s pre-series preparations — such as Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan — as “has-beens”. He said: “Has-beens is a horrible word. It’s the only thing that managed to come out of my mouth. I’m going to be one of those one day. That’s not at all what I meant.”