Mark Wood interview on pace bowling: How Michael Holding helped me bowl at 96mph

[sage]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/11/07/mark-wood-exclusive-how-michael-holding-helped-bowl-96mph/

 

No man this T20 World Cup has been quicker than Mark Wood. He has bowled at an average of 92mph, reaching 96mph with his delivery to Glenn Phillips: the fastest ball that anyone has delivered all tournament.

“Never did I think that I'd be able to bowl that speed,” Wood reflects. “Even two years ago I wouldn't say I'll be able to get to 96.”

At 32, Wood is an age when fast bowlers are normally slowing down. Instead, he is speeding up: in T20 cricket, his average speed has shot up from 89mph in 2021 to 92mph in 2022, his fastest yet.

Yet Wood still thinks that there is more to come. "I think I can bowl consistently quicker and that's the challenge – keeping those paces up. I feel like maybe my top speed won't go up much but I can consistently try and bowl above 90mph."

As he documents in The Wood Life, his new book, Wood has Michael Holding, the legendary West Indies quick, to thank. Observing Wood after he made his international debut in 2015, Holding was impressed. But he thought that Wood’s run-up – rushing into the crease, "like he wanted to get in a certain number of steps before he got there" – stopped him from being even quicker.

 

Naturally, Wood became aware of the chat in the Sky Sports commentary box. One day at Lord’s he approached Holding, asking if they could discuss his bowling. These conversations, and work with Kevin Shine, then England’s lead fast bowling coach, ultimately led to Wood changing his run-up in 2018. Essentially, he lengthened his run-up, to become smoother and reduce the stress on his body.

“I was a bit stubborn really because I didn't want to give it up – because that had got us to that level,” Wood explains. “But I just wasn't consistent and I wasn't doing it enough. And when I changed my run-up it got easier and I got quicker. That's when it really turned for me.”

In his first Test with the new run-up, Wood took five for 41 against West Indies at St Lucia, bowling quicker than at any time before in his Test career. Before the new run-up, Wood played 12 Tests, averaging 41.7 and taking a wicket every 76 balls. In 14 Tests since, he has taken 52 wickets at an average of 26.3 – with a wicket every 47 deliveries. Wood has also excelled with the white-ball: pace like his, after all, transcends the conditions, the format or the colour of the ball.

Bowling fast is deeply unnatural. Essentially, it involves contorting the human body in a series of awkward ways, culminating in propelling a leather ball with a straight arm at speeds over 90mph. “It’s like a rocket,” Wood explains. “All of a sudden you have this build-up of energy and then everything's aligned.

“If you get the timing exactly right, it just flies. Sometimes you know when everything clicks, you can tell by the way you land – the speed of your run-up, the timing of your land and the timing of your head coming forward, your arm coming through. You know as soon as the ball's left your hand, literally within a millisecond – that's a fast one.

 

“I used to play this game at school. When we were in IT lessons, I went straight on the BBC Sport website. And there was a Denise Lewis Olympic heptathlon game. You'd have to tap real quick with your fingers to get the power bar up. And I feel like that's like what fast bowling is – when you get the power bar right to the top. Or like a medieval catapult, you pull the catapult back as far as you can.”

In his book, Wood self-deprecatingly writes of his “noodle arms”; he says he is “5ft 10in on a good day”. Ostensibly, it is not the most natural fast bowling physique. Where, then, does Wood generate his pace from?

“It's a mixture – energy, a bit of athleticism with the fact that my action transfers energy quite well. If you look at my action it looks awful on my ankle and stuff, but actually there's a lot of stuff in there that comes through really late. So it's a bit like a catapult in a slingshot. There's elements with the braced front leg on my body, my energy's kind of in the forearms and then my head fires through which then allows my chest to come through. So all my body's going forward, but my arms are still back and as my arm comes through that's when the pace comes."

A good fast bowling action, Wood believes, should be free of complication. “You're trying to get from A to B as quick as you can. Everything in a straight line. If anything comes off or veers away your other arms have got to do the opposite as a consequence. So the straighter you can get from A to B on that runaway, the more that it’s aligned towards the stumps, the quicker it will be.”

While Wood has been empowered to hunt wickets, especially in the middle overs, during the World Cup, he does not think that faster is always better. “You've got to be accurate or have a bit of movement as well. That's not something I've been amazed at, getting a lot of movement, but now I'm trying to improve that.” In the nets in Australia, Wood has also strived to develop a slower ball, though he is yet to unleash one during the World Cup.

 

 

 

 

 

[the don]

Amazing how he has maximized his potential. Remember him as a 138 kph bowler a few years ago. 
 

Naseem, haris and Hasnain all can work on their runups and get even quicker. Would love if Pak can have a fast bowling academy with these specialist coaches.

[vvvslaxman]

Still not as fast as Bhuvi

 

[Adamant]

Average bowler at best. 

Only Indian fans hype him

[Cloud9]

4 hours ago, Adamant said:

Average bowler at best. 

Only Indian fans hype him

He was the only good bowler for England alongside with Broad in this year's ashes and also helped England to win the series in South Africa 2019.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Cloud9

[tapandrun]

Fix the run-up and you are good, what a simple a straight forward advice, had it been our ex-players they would have asked to cut down speed work on variations and line length.

 

He is bowling his fastest after returning from an injury and at an age of 32 is remarkable. 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

We have Harshal giving interview how he learnt to bowl slow ball lol

[express bowling]

The fact that Wood is adding speed at age 32 along with being more accurate,  is really amazing and praiseworthy. 

 

All our younger fast bowlers should study him to see how they can achieve increase in both speed and accuracy. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by express bowling

[singhvivek141]

I remember Wood was a 138-145 kph bowler in 2015/2016 with short runup, fast forward 6 years and now he's a 145-150 kph pacer with effort balls at 154-155 kph.
I hope we see Umran and Kuldeep hitting those speeds after the T20 WC.

[Ravi_Shastri]

Did holding also teach him to avg 38 in ODIS and 32 in TESTS 

 

Nothing special bowler. We have much better here in Azad Maidan

Edited November 9, 2022 by Ravi_Shastri

[singhvivek141]

15 minutes ago, Ravi_Shastri said:

Did holding also teach him to avg 38 in ODIS and 32 in TESTS 

 

Nothing special bowler. We have much better here in Azad Maidan

From last 4 years his avg's are 26 in TESTS and 28 in ODI's. 

[Ravi_Shastri]

1 hour ago, singhvivek141 said:

From last 4 years his avg's are 26 in TESTS and 28 in ODI's. 

and in the last two years, his Test avg is 32 and ODI 31

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by Ravi_Shastri

[sage]

2 hours ago, express bowling said:

The fact that Wood is adding speed st age 32 along with being more accurate,  is really amazing and praiseworthy. 

 

All our younger fast bowlers should study him to see how they can achieve increase in both speed and accuracy. 

He's also not even very tall

[express bowling]

11 minutes ago, Ravi_Shastri said:

and in the last two years, his Test avg is 32 and ODI 31

 

 

 

England use Wood as en enforcer pacer and tell him to bowl short very frequently. He is used to soften up batters.

 

Such lengths will not bring enough wickets these days.

 

If he is allowed / instructed to bowl the channel or attack the stumps then he will get more wickets. 

[Suhaan]

16 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

England use Wood as en enforcer pacer and tell him to bowl short very frequently. He is used to soften up batters.

 

Such lengths will not bring enough wickets these days.

 

If he is allowed / instructed to bowl the channel or attack the stumps then he will get more wickets. 

Lol at your efforts to reply those posters

[SRT100]

24 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

England use Wood as en enforcer pacer and tell him to bowl short very frequently. He is used to soften up batters.

 

Such lengths will not bring enough wickets these days.

 

If he is allowed / instructed to bowl the channel or attack the stumps then he will get more wickets. 

 

Australia always had this theory that bowlers bowl with partners, like partnerships with batsmen.

 

So while one "softens" the batsmen, the other gets the wicket. The end of the day its the bowling team that gets the win, not just the bowler who took the wickets.

McGrath and Warne would bowl well together.

[Clarke]

Can he bowl every delivery at 48 mph while being a quick/seam bowler and then boast about it ?

[singhvivek141]

4 hours ago, Ravi_Shastri said:

and in the last two years, his Test avg is 32 and ODI 31

 

Yeah 2021 was a mediocre one
But 2022, his test avg is 26...that's good. Hasn't played ODI in 2022.
WHile in T20's his average this year is 10.33 with SR of 8.6..picking up wickets and being economical as well.

[Adamant]

9 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

 

England use Wood as en enforcer pacer and tell him to bowl short very frequently. He is used to soften up batters.

 

Such lengths will not bring enough wickets these days.

 

If he is allowed / instructed to bowl the channel or attack the stumps then he will get more wickets. 

He won't get more wickets. 

 

Reason is simple, he doesn't move the ball an inch and isn't tall enough to get that extra bounce on good length and also doesn't have enough braincells. 

[Adamant]

He averages 6 more than Bhuvi in tests despite him playing in english conditions. 

 

Shame at your speed, action or whatever.