Mark Wood has just got this mad, unique energy, you think he’s drunk half the time, yet he doesn’t touch a drop: Ollie Robinson

Mark Wood was the focal point for the English pace attack after his seven-wicket feat in the last Test at Headingley. English pacer Ollie Robinson has described Wood as a great character. In pressure series like Ashes 2023, Robinson thinks the English speedster surely breaks silence into laughter with his actions in the dressing room. 

Wood put on a sensational all-round performance on his return to Test cricket; he played after veteran pacer James Anderson was given a rest in the series. In the game, the Ben Stokes-led side won by three wickets but are trailing in the five-game series by 1-2.

“Woody’s just got this mad, unique energy. There’s no one else like him. You think he’s drunk half the time, yet he doesn’t touch a drop. Bear in mind, this is a bloke who, 10 minutes before we went out, literally at 10:50am, was on all-fours barking on the changing room floor, going, ‘There’s a dog in the dressing room. There’s a dog in here, lads...," said Robinson in the column for Wisden.

In the third Test at Headingley, Mark bowled a fearsome spell; his top speed was 96.5mph in his opening spell of Day 1.  In the first innings, the visitors were bowled out for 263 as the English pacer picked a five-wicket haul by giving 34 runs, as he dismissed Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey, and Pat Cummins among others.

Ollie Robinson regards Mark Wood's fiery spell in the third Ashes Test as the fastest- 

"I’ve never seen a spell like Woody’s on that first morning. After the first over I went to fine leg, and I was standing no more than 15 yards behind Jonny [Bairstow, England’s wicketkeeper], thinking, literally, ‘This is the fastest thing I’ve ever seen,'" he further added.

"It was crazy. I felt like if they hit it more than a metre either side of me it was a certain boundary, and the fact he was consistently getting the shape and movement on it as well – at that speed – was just unbelievable bowling," concluded Robinson.

Indeed, the victory in the last game brought the home side back into the Ashes 2023. Ollie got injured in the first innings of the last game. After suffering from the injury, he didn’t bowl again in the game but came to bat for a short spell.

The English side won the game in the absence of one pacer, Robinson, but for the fourth match, it will be interesting to see if the injured pacer will be replaced or if he will recover in the break time between the third and fourth Tests. The fourth Test begins on July 19 in Manchester.