Advertisement

Mark Wood's brutal Ashes snub leaves English cricket fans stunned

England announced their line-up two days out from the first ball.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·4-min read
Joe Root celebrates with Mark Wood and Stuart Broad watching on.
England have opted for Stuart Broad (pictured right), Ollie Robinson and James Anderson for the first Ashes Test instead of Mark Wood (pictured middle). (Getty Images)

English fans have been left questioning the absence of towering quick Mark Wood from the first Test line-up against Australia for the Edgbaston showdown in an interesting tactical call. England announced their line-up early ahead of the Friday's opening Ashes test with Ben Stokes and Brendan McCullum opting for guile, rather than speed.

Ollie Robinson will join veterans Stuart Broad and James Anderson as the quicks to take on the Aussies on what appears to be a flatter wicket than usual. The move appears to suggest the English are hoping the conditions help the Dukes balls swing in favourable conditions.

BOOM: Vaughan's subtle swipe at Scott Boland amid Ashes conundrum

CLASS: Scott Boland’s classy move amid Aussie dilemma for Ashes

However, if conditions don't suit England, it could allow Australia's line-up of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head to get on top of the bowlers on a batter-friendly wicket at Edgbaston. This sparked a debate on whether opting to leave out Wood was the right decision.

What made England's call even more baffling was Stokes insisting he wanted to use a quick in the calibre of Jofra Archer or Woods as he talked tactics in the build-up to the Ashes. While it doesn't mean Woods won't play in the other Tests, English fans were left questioning the decision a few days out from the opening ball.

Steve Smith scare before Ashes test

England's quicks will have plenty to focus on during the five test match series with Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head all this week named as the top three batters in world on the official rankings. However, Smith sent a scare through the camp having taken a knock during training.

Smith was captured leaving the nets in pain after a ball struck his hand. The mercurial batter was than treated on the sideline and winced in a worrying sign for Australia only 48 hours before the first ball.

The batter appeared to be fine, but time will tell on whether the best batter of his generation recovers in time to face up against the England quicks. Smith admitted in a press conference before the match he was ready for whatever the English team threw at him having seem them use some 'funky' tactics in recent years.

Steve Smith in pain during training.
Steve Smith (pictured) was injured in the nets session ahead of the Ashes. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

"Think we've seen the last few months that they do some funky things and they are going to have to try some different things at certain times," Smith said before the Birmingham test. "For me, [I] think one of my big strengths is being able to adapt on the go and understand what they are trying to do and sort of solve the problem out in the middle.

"I'll just focus on my game and try and counter each thing they come at me with. But we are expecting some different stuff, that's for sure."

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.