'He won’t bottle it, this lad, we will enjoy watching him for a while'
Tuesday 26 May 2015 12:35, UK
Nasser Hussain says Mark Wood has shown the character needed for Test cricket after his 3-93 on debut to help England dismiss New Zealand for 523 on day three of the first Test at Lord’s.
Wood grabbed the crucial wicket of Brendon McCullum for his first Test wicket, before adding Corey Anderson and Matt Henry to his haul. And he displayed his lighter side with a funny celebration after catching Tim Southee in the outfield.
“You can see how much he enjoys the game, how much it means to him” said Hussain. “I don’t think this lad will struggle, he’s got all the character you need.
“He won’t bottle it, this lad, and as long as his body stays together and he bowls like he has done in this Test match, we will enjoy watching him for a while.
“He’ll be absolutely fine because he will give it everything. He’s another lad – a bit like Joe Root – who seems to love playing cricket and playing for England.
New Zealand’s first innings total gave them a handy 134-run lead, but England bowled better than the score would suggest, taking eight wickets for 220 runs in the day.
“It has been a bowlers day – with a lot more cloud cover – it did a lot more,” added Hussain. “But I thought the England bowlers bowled better.
“We were a little bit critical of them yesterday but today all of them bowled better, only Jimmy Anderson is struggling for a bit of rhythm maybe.”
In those helpful conditions for bowlers, New Zealand grabbed two England wickets – Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance – in the final session to reduce England to 25-2.
Lyth – also on debut – added only 12 runs to his seven in the first innings before edging Trent Boult to slip, while Ballance was stuck in his crease and bowled by Southee.
Alastair Cook (32no) and Ian Bell (29no) then played nicely to take England to 74-2, trailing by 60, at the close.
“It’s a challenge for someone like Lyth to play against these guys,” said Hussain. “He played at one he probably didn’t need to. When he went in, it looked like he wanted to get bat on ball but it’s finding that balance.
“Speaking of Ballance – he got a good delivery, but whenever he gets out, it’s going to look ugly.
“Whenever he has a poor Test match, people will question him being at No 3 but before this Test he was averaging 60 in that position.
“The two senior batsmen – over 100 Test matches each, 48 hundreds between them – they needed to dig deep there and they did. And they will need to do a lot more tomorrow.”
