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'He said that if I wanted to bowl 100 mph...': England pacer quips at Shoaib Akhtar's 'he needs to pull trucks' comment
Reacting to Shoaib Akhtar's 'he needs to pull trucks' comment to generate pace, England pacer Mark Wood has come up with a rather witty remark himself.
Mark Wood was the difference between Pakistan and England in the second Test in Multan, which Ben Stokes and his team won comfortably in the end to clinch the series. When Pakistan began proceedings on Day 4, they needed 157 to win, and England 6 wickets. Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Nawaz had forged a commendable 80-run partnership to give Pakistan hopes. But on the stroke of lunch, England pacer Wood bowled a fiery spell to send back Shakeel for 94 and then Nawaz, which triggered a collapse. Wood finished with 4/65 as Pakistan’s quest for 355 was cut 26 runs short.
A while back, Akhtar, in an interview had suggested that Wood be pulling trucks to generate more pace to his bowling and hit the 100-mph mark. "A couple of things I have noticed. He loses his follow-through. Thank god he shortened his run-up. He lands on the left foot, and you see often he collapses on the pitch because he cannot control the follow-through," Akhtar had told The Telegraph in an interview.
"If he is thinking that he cannot bowl more than 155, he is absolutely wrong there! If he wants to bowl 100mph, he needs to start pulling trucks. I made the pitches about 26 yards. I made a ball about four times heavier than normal. I trained by doing a lot of weights, riding the bicycle with weights on it. I would do about 1000 reps. I noticed I developed muscles that I had never been able to touch before. Little did I know that I was losing my knees, bones and cartilage at the same time. Whoever can bowl 150kph has 10ks in reserve, with the right preparation and the right recuperation."
But Wood, one of the world's fastest bowlers, despite not bending his back too much, made his point clear in Multan. He may not be as express as Shoaib Akhtar but was still able to deliver for his team on a sub-continent surface. Reacting to Akhtar's remarks, Wood came up with a rather witty comment, saying he was pleased to emulate the genius of Akhtar in front of a packed-Pakistan crowd.
"I didn't bowl any stumps out… he said if I wanted to bowl 100mph, I needed to pull trucks. He doesn't know how weak I am. I can't pull any truck. But it's great to replicate someone like him. The crowd have been amazing, they love fast bowling in Pakistan off the back of guys like Shoaib… so it's nice to get that reception," Wood said.
For Wood, 33, who has been an integral part of England's success in white-ball formats, his game-changing figures in the 2nd Test against Pakistan has come at the right time. After missing the West Indies Test series earlier this year with an elbow injury, Wood worried if he would be able to sustain the toll of all three formats, but the outing he enjoyed in Multan promises to go a long way in Wood relishing his chances with both white ball and red ball.
"At some my point my body will say that it's the way to go but I didn't prepare for white-ball, I prepared for all cricket. I desperately wanted to experience all this, with Stokesy and Brendon, so I'm pleased I've stuck with it. And I'm pleased we won here. I'd have been gutted if we'd won, I'd come in, and we'd lost. They'd have been pointing fingers at me," he added.
