The third Ashes 2023 Test between England and Australia got underway at Headingley on July 6, which sees the hosts trailing 2-0 to the visitors in the five-Test series and this being a must-win encounter for Ben Stokes and co.
Ben Stokes started off well as he won the toss and chose to bowl first. England had announced their playing XI a day before and saw the inclusion of Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, and Moeen Ali in place of Ollie Pope, James Anderson, and Josh Tongue.
For Australia, Mitchell Marsh replaced Cameron Green, Scott Boland came in for Josh Hazlewood and Todd Murphy made his Ashes debut in place of injured Nathan Lyon, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the series.
Stuart Broad lend the first blow as he got David Warner out caught in slips in the first over itself.
And then Mark Wood set the speedometer flying as the England paceman clocked speeds of 91, 93, 95, 93, 94, and 93mph in his first over, officially the fastest over to be bowled at Headingley.
He followed that up with a delivery of 96.5mph in his second over.
The 33-year-old bowler put pressure on the Australian hitters by bowling three straight maidens. He then saved his best delivery of his four-over burst for last, scoring a significant wicket with the penultimate ball of his spell.
The batter to face the brunt of Wood was Usman Khawaja, who in the 13th over, faced a barrage of deliveries clocking 93 mph. But the dam was burst on the last delivery as Wood clocked 94.6 mph and the left-hander was just a bit slow to bring his bat near the ball.
The ball took the inside edge, beating Khawaja for pace, and flattened his leg-stump, sending the English paceman into wild celebration.
Check it out here:
Not only was the England team ecstatic on seeing Usman Khawaja going back to the pavilion, the cricket fraternity was jubilant at seeing raw pace from Mark Wood, something that was missing from England’s arsenal.
Check out the reactions here:
