Twitter Reactions ASHES 2023

'Credit goes to Thala' - Fans react to Mark Wood's great performance against Australia in third Test of Ashes 2023

Mark Wood entered the England side for the third Test in Headingley and made the difference with his all-round performance.

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Mark Wood

Mark Wood (Source: Twitter)

Mark Wood Mark Wood (Source: Twitter)

At the end of the second Test at Lord's in Ashes 2023, England were posed a lot of questions and raised a lot of eyebrows. The home side had to address the issue of not scoring enough runs, not being able to clinch the big moments, not breaking the opening partnership early, and not being able to put enough pressure on the Australian batters. England genuinely lacked a pacer who could bowl with rapid pace and trouble the Australian batters. England needed something big to stay alive in the series.

England made three changes to their lineup in the third Test. Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, and Mark Wood replaced Ollie Pope, James Anderson, and Josh Tongue respectively. Bowling first on an overcast morning, England had Australia at 85/4. Mark Wood had already troubled the batters by then with his extreme pace. The pacer bowled consistently at over 145 km/h and clocked more than 150 km/h many a time. The sheer pace was fun to watch and rewarded England.

Impactful performance in the Test

Wood dismissed Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith in his first spell, both of whom could have taken the match away from England. As Australia was well placed at 240/4 due to an exceptional hundred from Mitchell Marsh, Wood was brought back to the attack. Woakes dismissed Marsh and Wood ran through the Australian batting and claimed the wickets of Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc. Australia lost their last 6 wickets for just 23 runs. On a Test return, Wood claimed a fifer, his fourth in the format.

England was 142/7 in their first innings with Stokes as the only recognized batter in the middle. The lower-order batter played a fine cameo and scored 24 useful runs in just 8 deliveries and helped England with his contribution. Wood scored a boundary, and 3 sixes and entertained the crowd. In the second innings, Wood picked the wickets of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. With the bat, England needed 21 runs for the last 3 wickets. Wood scored 16 of them in just 8 deliveries and helped England win the game in style.

Here's how the fans reacted to Wood's contribution to the Test:

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