'Wanted to try hard and prove we could do it' - Mark Wood opens up on absence of Anderson-Broad duo

England pacer Mark Wood feels that the bowlers tried too hard to fill the void created by the veteran duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad against West Indies. England resumed day two with Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes at the crease, and some quick wickets at the start of the day saw the Joe Root-led side getting bowled out for 311 in their first innings. West Indies ended day two with 202/4 and they trail by 109 runs at stumps.

Wood was the pick of the bowlers for the England side, with figures of 1/24 in 12 overs, and picked up the important wicket of skipper Kraigg Braithwaite who can stay at the crease for long hours. The new ball bowlers, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton, did not have the best of outings as they conceded a lot of boundaries. England decided to drop the experienced pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad for this series after a poor Ashes series in Australia.

We just have to admit we didn’t get it right to start: Mark Wood

Wood mentioned that England bowlers were trying to prove a point that they can do the job without the likes of Anderson and Broad and noted that they did not start well. He added that the lengths bowled weren’t right but was delighted with the comeback in the last few overs. Anderson has 640 wickets in 169 Tests, while Broad picked up 537 wickets in 152 Tests for England.

“We maybe tried a little bit too hard, with the void of Anderson and Broad we wanted to try hard and prove we could do it. Of course, it’s weird [without them]. It’s obviously going to be talked about because they are legends. But we just have to admit we didn’t get it right to start with and we’ll be out to get it right next time. We were all a bit inconsistent, we didn’t get our lengths quite right and we were a little bit too full or too short. But actually, I thought we came back really well,” Wood was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

On England missing a big opportunity to get to a big total in the first innings, Wood admitted that the tailenders should have stayed with the century-maker Jonny Bairstow who kept finding the boundaries from one end.

“As bowlers, we work really hard on our batting and I think we could have stuck with Jonny a little bit more. I was disappointed with my shot. We could have got even more runs. From 48 for four, you think 311 is a really good total. But overnight we were hoping for more. It’s something to work on,” he added.