England quicks aiming to be in the pink under the lights against India

Mark Wood has revealed England’s pace bowlers are queuing up to get their hands on the pink ball ahead of the floodlit third Test against India.
Pace threat: England's Mark Wood.Pace threat: England's Mark Wood.
Pace threat: England's Mark Wood.

The series will head into uncharted territory in Ahmedabad next week, with the historic first day/night Test between the two sides taking place in the first match at the new 110,000-capacity Sardar Patel Stadium.

After the first two games were dominated by spin, with 56 of the 79 wickets to fall taken by slow bowlers, there is hope that the quicks will be back in business.

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India took all 20 wickets with pace to win their only previous day/nighter on home soil, against Bangladesh in Kolkata 14 months ago, and Wood suggested England’s seam attack was enthusiastic about their early attempts with SG’s pink variant.

“We’ve been bowling with them in the nets – they have swung quite a bit and they’ve lasted longer which was interesting to see,” he said.

“Every one of the bowlers is dying to get it in their hand. I’m not the only one who’s trying to get hold of it.

“As soon as the ball moves we know how good our seam bowlers can be. We’ve got good depth there, good skills and two of the best ever (James Anderson and Stuart Broad). Hopefully, if the ball does move and it is seamer friendly we can be very confident going into the game.”

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“The pitches in the nets have been a bit green and had good pace and carry, too. I don’t know if that’s anything to go by or whether it’s a bit of a trick.”

Wood is back with the squad after being rested from the first half of the series but his route back into the side is not a given.

The Anderson-Broad axis will surely come firmly into the equation if there is movement around, Olly Stone is fresh from an impressive return in Chennai and Jofra Archer is a first-choice if he is fit following an elbow injury.

Add in Chris Woakes, who is still awaiting his first outing of the winter after seven weeks on the road, and the selection puzzle looks difficult. None of the other options are as consistently, menacingly fast as Wood and he is ready to play an enforcement role.

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“Being a fast bowler, trying to take wickets is my job and the captain has used me as a bit of a battering ram,” he said.

“It should be the same here because I’ll charge in just the same, but the movement should make it even deadlier. Any sort of movement you can get, at that pace, makes it feel quicker for batsmen and that will be the trick for us.”

Wood also explained his decision to make a late withdrawal from Thursday’s Indian Premier League auction. Speed was the order of the day in the bidding hall, with Chris Morris, Jhye Richardson and Kyle Jamieson all landing paydays in excess of £1m.

The Durham man might have attracted similar interest given his skills, but he was eager to devote more time to his family after an arduous year and also keep his body fresh for England duty.

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“Obviously there have been some big names go for big money and it’s great for them. It’s life-changing money which is why it was such a difficult decision for me,” he said.

Tash Farrant is back to deal with “unfinished business” on England’s tour of New Zealand, after being handed a lifeline in the professional game.

The left-arm seamer made her international debut as a 17-year-old and made 14 appearances in five years before being released from the set-up by then coach Mark Robinson in 2019.

She proceeded to get a job as head of girls’ cricket at Trent College in Nottingham and, in years gone by, might easily have drifted away from the top level.

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But when the England and Wales Cricket Board decided to offer new professional deals to 41 regional players last year, Farrant was one of those to make the cut.

Back in full-time cricket, she caught the eye for South West Stars in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and won a recall to the England squad for their series against the White Ferns.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s first one-day international, the 24-year-old said: “When I got over the initial disappointment of losing my contract, I started to work on my game as an individual, with specific one-to-one coaches, and when the new regional contracts came in that was a new lease of life for me.”

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