Taking a cue from West Indies, England could well bring back Mark Wood to add more pace to its bowling ahead of the team's next encounter in World Cup 2019 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on Monday (June 3).
The ploy has been set there to exploit versus the Asian giants, since the Caribbean pacers bundled them out for just 105 at the same venue this Friday (May 31). The likes of Oshane Thomas, Andre Russell and Jason Holder exposed Pakistani batsmen's backfoot play and that is something Wood, when coupled with someone as quick as Jofra Archer, can easily imitate.
"We're aware of what went on yesterday. It was interesting viewing," England assistant coach Graham Thorpe said on Saturday (June 1). "The West Indies bowled very well, they looked like they roughed Pakistan up. I think it (drafting Wood) will be discussed, to be honest."
Wood left the field midway through England's official warm-up encounter against Australia last week due to an ankle injury.
The 29-year-old managed to bowl just 3.1 overs before abandoning his run-up after feeling pain in the left foot and went to the hospital for a scan immediately.
He didn't take any further part in that game and also missed the tournament opener against South Africa at The Oval on Thursday (May 30).
Meanwhile, despite England batting really well on an uneven deck versus the Proteas to post 311/8 in the team's 104-run victory, Thorpe reckons there are still improvements to be made and flexibility to be continued with for the rest of the campaign, especially with talks of 500-run mark hovering around and the surfaces not playing as flat as people genuinely thought they would.
"It (pitch at Nottingham) has generally always been a good pitch so we are looking forward to it. We didn't quite unlock the door in terms of our batting at the Oval, being able to let go because we kept losing wickets at crucial times so we had to keep trying to put on those mini-partnerships again and that was really good."
"It's the same thing coming here against Pakistan: if we get into a good position, we'll try to score as many as we can. But at the same time if it doesn't happen, you've got to put a competitive score on the board to put the opposition under pressure," Thorpe concluded.
(Inputs from AFP)
