Mark Wood's Fightback Should Serve as Example to England Team-mates

On the second day of England’s first Test at home to New Zealand at Lord’s, seam bowler Mark Wood thought he had his first wicket in the longest form on debut.

The 25-year-old thought he had opener Martin Guptill caught at slip, but he was pulled back by the umpire for overstepping and had his delivery called a no ball.

At the end of the day, the luckless Wood found himself wicketless and frustrated like the rest of his team-mates, who had toiled against a strong Black Caps batting lineup.

The following day, with the away side in a strong position, Wood could so easily have let his head drop as he ran in and had very little success early on.

However, things changed as he picked up three wickets in the visitors’ first innings, including the dangerous Brendon McCullum first.

Not only that, Wood was consistently bowling at around 90 mph, even late on in spells after having sent down a number of overs.

It should serve as a lesson to his team-mates, who go into the fourth day on 74 for two, behind by 60 runs still with eight wickets in hand.

This game has been a difficult start to the summer for England so far, although they can be encouraged by their display on the third day.

New Zealand were 303 for two when they kicked off proceedings on Saturday at Lord’s, in a strong position and surely hopeful of taking a big lead before the close of play.

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However, led by Wood and with support coming from Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali with the ball, England fought back to take the remaining eight wickets for just 220 runs.

Even Ben Stokes continued to run in well and generate movement through the air and off the pitch, although he was not rewarded for his efforts with wickets.

When the Black Caps were all out for 523, they took a lead of just 134 into the second innings, an advantage they would have wanted to be far greater given where they started.

Unfortunately for the hosts, things started badly as both Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance were removed cheaply with just 25 runs on the board.

It meant that captain Alastair Cook and Ian Bell had to rebuild their innings, and they managed to do so with both men unbeaten at the close.

It was another strong fightback after a worrying top-order batting collapse, and it is something that will need to be continued Sunday by the home side.

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They have been made to work incredibly hard to stay in this game by a very talented New Zealand team, and they have been up against it throughout.

However, they have managed to recover on several occasions, both with bat and ball, and they need to do more of the same.

England could do worse than following the example of their debutant fast bowler, who has shown plenty of character already himself.