"I am calling Bazball dead and he comes out and hits 24 off 8 balls" - Damien Fleming lauds Mark Wood's match-defining performance in 3rd Ashes Test
Damien Fleming has picked Mark Wood's all-round effort as the game-defining performance of the third Ashes Test.
England defeated Australia by three wickets at Headingley in Leeds on Sunday (July 9) to reduce the deficit to 1-2 in the five-match series. Wood was chosen as the Player of the Match for his seven-wicket match haul and crucial 40 runs across England's two innings.
While reflecting on the game on 'SEN SA Breakfast', Fleming pointed out that Mark Wood's all-round performance changed the course of the game:
"To be honest, I talked about the hundred for Marsh, brilliant 80 from Stokes, excellent two seventies from Head and Brook, the six-wicket haul from Cummins, five from Wood and five from Mitchell Starc, but I think it was Wood that actually changed it for the English team."
The former Australian seamer added:
"Bowling 95 miles an hour, not only knocking over Khawaja, our best technical batter, but he just ran through our tail. So instead of our tail putting on 80, we put on 18. And then when he comes out to bat after Lunch, I am calling Bazball dead and he comes out and hits 24 off 8 balls."
Wood castled Usman Khawaja and then picked up the last four wickets in Australia's first innings as the visitors were bowled out for 263 after being comfortably placed at 245/5. The No. 9 batter then smoked 24 runs off eight balls when England were struggling at 142/7 in their first essay, which eventually helped reduce the first-innings deficit to just 26 runs.
"A 26-run lead felt like a loss" - Damien Fleming on the impact of Mark Wood's knock
Damien Fleming pointed out that Ben Stokes made the most of the momentum change provided by Mark Wood's knock:
"All of a sudden the momentum is going back England's way. Stokes jumps on that momentum because he is a great cricketer and instead of us having a 70 or 80-run lead going into the second innings, a 26-run lead felt like a loss, to be honest, because England had already taken the momentum away."
The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by stating that Wood was deservedly chosen as the Player of the Match:
"So I reckon Wood's impact and justifiably Player of the Match, his extreme pace and his almost cowboy-like batting and six-hitting ability was the match-winner in this Test match."
Wood was not satiated with his first-innings effort with the bat. The express pacer smoked an unbeaten 16 off eight balls in the second essay to close out the chase in Chris Woakes' company.