Wood's spell from hell reverse-swings it for England
A scuffed-up ball and a fired-up fast bowler combined for one of the great passages of reverse
Vithushan Ehantharajah28-Jul-2024It started with a six.Mikyle Louis, just as he had threatened throughout his debut Test series, was batting like a dream. West Indies were three down and only 12 ahead, but Louis was moving the dial in controlled fashion. And when he slog-swept Shoaib Bashir into the RES Wyatt Stand at long-on to bring up his first half-century, he had reason to believe the blow would resonate throughout the innings. In a way, he would have been right.About four hours later, the Botham-Richards Trophy was being polished before being handed to England for the last formalities of the post-series presentations. By then, West Indies were back in their dressing room, still trying to come to terms with being blown out of the water by Mark Wood’s 5 for 40, with assistance from Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson, in what will be remembered as one of the most remarkable spells of reverse-swing bowling of the modern era.The ball, now in Wood’s possession, with which he strung together five wickets across 21 deliveries and then held up to the adoring Birmingham crowd, carries a notable blemish on its rough side. One which it picked up off the back of Louis’ strike. From that point on, as Stokes put it, “It started doing loads.”Related
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“You need to blame Louis for this,” the England captain said to Kavem Hodge out in the middle as the No. 5 sat in the worst seat in the house, unable to avert his eyes for five of the seven wickets to fall in this hellacious spell of reverse.You can convince yourself Stokes was speaking with a bit of empathy until you realise he was the one that instigated all this.Upon realising the ball would start to tail, Stokes decided to have first dibs. An eight-over spell from the Pavilion End – which accounted for Louis, finding the edge with a lack of movement after lavish lead-up deliveries – was a throwback to previous such spells. Before he was captain, Stokes was used as the ideal conduit for reverse swing, with his slight left-lean in his gather and cantered right arm pushing the ball in, encouraging movement through the air before the rough-and-smooth work against one another.That he took just one wicket – Zak Crawley busted his little finger on his right hand dropping a deserved second – means Edgbaston 2024 won’t join the likes of Chattogram 2016 and Cape Town 2020 for memorable dalliances with the untameable craft. But this was another nod to a previously troublesome left knee that has a new lease of life.Reverse swing is a collaborative process. From Atkinson taking up the City End – and snaring Jason Holder, who Crawley had shelled – to the rest of the team ensuring the ball remained in condition. Joe Root has often been the one to buff, but this time it was Harry Brook charged with keeping the shiny side pristine, using the top of his right pocket to polish.The rough side is harder to manage, but every fielder did their bit. Touches on the ball were few and far between, holding the ball across the seam, with the sweatier members avoiding it altogether. Undoubtedly the most important part was recognising the scuffed side was the right kind of scuffed; ideally a fuzz rather than tatters. In a series that has had more ball changes than actual days of cricket (10), they did well to recognise that this defacement of the Dukes was to their benefit.Mark Wood roars after dismissing Kavem Hodge•Getty ImagesAnd yet, while reverse swing is never solely about one man, it certainly felt that way after lunch. “I think that’s one of the best reverse swing performances I’ve seen in a long time,” Stokes beamed of Wood’s six-over spell from lunch, which in isolation carried figures of 5 for 9. What a way to make a killing.Type in “reverse swing dismissals” into Chat GPT and not even AI would be able to conjure the kind of imagery Wood was serving up. Inswinging yorkers (Joshua Da Silva), uprooted stumps (Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales) and the thinking man’s reverse-swing dismissal – the nick (Hodge).Even before Wood made his Test debut in 2015, he was embued with reverse swing lessons from ECB coaches. During his time with the Lions he would hone those skills at Loughborough with balls that were deliberately scratched and loaded, a characteristic achieved by soaking one side in water.It was from these groundings that Wood figured out what works best for him. Slightly lowering his arm, bowling a little fuller than normal but not consistently yorker length, to get that extra zip to attack the pads. All with his use of the crease, which here included going wide to the right-handers to open their stances up a little more, thus further offsetting their front foot.As quickly as the wickets came, England were not all that greedy, which James Anderson preached at lunch. Anderson told the quicks that given the scale of movement out there, pace was not the priority. By focusing on skills, they would be able to gain just as many rewards. During his playing days (which only ended a couple of weeks ago) Anderson’s use of reverse swing centred around patience, with such skill that batters would not realise the ball was “misbehaving” until they were watching their dismissals back in the dressing room.Jayden Seales loses his off stump•ECB via Getty ImagesHe advised them to use the short ball, which Wood did to great effect as the lead-in to the dismissals of Joseph and Seales. And the focus on the right areas ensured West Indies’ scoring – and thus strike rotation – was kept to a minimum. It meant Hodge was caught cold; his looseness on 55 outside off stump was through facing just 18 deliveries in 10.1 overs of the middle session.For all the calculation and cold-hearted cunning, there was raw emotion on show as Wood finally got his flowers – and a player-of-the-match award – for what have been two exceptional Tests. He had just four wickets from three innings to show for it before Sunday, sending down the fastest overs by an Englishman and beating so many edges you wondered if he had taken up breaking mirrors in his spare time.There is also the fact that Wood has, peculiarly, found himself in the crosshairs of some of the West Indies players. A number of them have chirped him when he’s batting – nothing malicious or, well, out of turn considering he has bagged two ducks out of three. But as Kevin Sinclair found out at Trent Bridge, and Seales here after lauding his dismissal of Wood as the nightwatcher in the first innings, there are better targets to rile than someone who cracks bones and dislocates stumps. He was basically laughing at Seales when he sent his off stump so far back that Brook paced out the distance as he returned it.All in all, this has been a tame series. James Anderson’s farewell gave Lord’s a testimonial feel. Trent Bridge was more of a contest until the final half-session, when it was anything but. And what jeopardy there was at the start of day two in this dead rubber had dissipated by third morning.By Sunday afternoon though, the game was at its most febrile. Its most carnal. Its most watchable. For that, we have reverse swing, England and Mark Wood to thank. And, of course, Mikyle Louis.