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Lurking in the shadows of legends and greats, two returning men shone on a gloomy supersonic day when every movement and reaction unfolded frantically, in Leeds.
Mark Wood, the stellar debut that punctuated his 28-game career in the Branderson era, showed that at breakneck speed can wreak havoc. Mitchell Marsh, forever living in the shadow of his brother Sean and father Jeff and carrying the burden of his family surname, rocks the 118-ball home run with brutal intensity and classic theatrics to outline what could be another thriller of twisting fortunes. Without Marsh, Australia would not have accumulated 263; Without Wood, England could not have limited their opponents to this total.
The pace of the day was relentless, a blur of boundaries and a whir of flying stumps, which carried on to the stumps, as England’s pace rose to 68 for 3 in their 19 overs. Wood set the tone, bounding off the inside, with a dizzying pace. His first spell, hitting an average of 94mph in four blood-frightening overs and beating the stumps of series-scorer Usman Khawaja, was the fastest in the history of the game since they began to record pace. Not only was Wood amazingly fast, he was also amazingly accurate, sprinting the ball wide after landing in the fairway. It was swing, apart from pace, that beat Khawaja’s forward drive, the late, quiet swing of in, which scratched the inside edge before hitting the stumps.
𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 to the side.
𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 with five wickets!Take a bow, Mark Wood 👏
🏴 #engfaus 🇦🇺 | IGcom pic.twitter.com/nyb0Sibi1G
– England Cricket (englandcricket) July 6, 2023
It was the only wicket compromised by Wood at the crack of the new ball. But speed, allied with precision and aggressiveness, excites terror, spreads consternation among the batsmen, and produces indiscretion and indecision. His peers reaped the rewards of the climate of fear he was conjuring. The commendable Chris Woakes and inspirational Stuart Broad broke the backbone of Australia’s batting line-up. Woakes produced a Marnus Labuschagne edge with movement off the seam of a challenging length; Broad had Steve Smith in him, the action was minimalistic yet adequate. Smith and Labuschagne both seemed unsteady, and had to blame Wood, who provided a lively dimension that England lacked at Lord’s and Birmingham. It showed the difference unadulterated pace can make, the energy it produces.
At 85 for 4, Calamity hung sinisterly like clouds over the stadium. Enter the man who will bring them light, and he is also unlikely to give light. Few would have expected Mitchell Marsh to appear in Headingley, and perhaps he would ever appear in the series, given the investment in Cameron Greene, arguably the most promising player in the world. Marsh was a backup player, no longer the bright young prospect he once was, but trudging through the dreary middle phase of an uneventful career, clutching at the last straw to thrive in the Whites.
But fortune, more often than not, knocks when one least expects it. Green’s injury, which had broken up his mediocrity, gave way to Marsh for his first Test in four years. The last one, mind you, produced seven wickets. But a series of injuries and a subsequent decline in form, before the white-ball revival, halted his progress in Test cricket. But such strikes could provide him with a less volatile place in the team.
The clarity of approach was remarkable. His plan was simple – he would leave or defend on long balls; he would cut or haul balls short or of solid length; He would kill anything full at a distance. But for the projection, his plans worked out gloriously. He delivered a vow of an epic hit unfolding with a groovy cover at lunchtime, but then, how many times had he and his brother Sean cheated.
Renaissance and redemption
The true stamp of intent arrived immediately after lunch, when he taunted Woakes at midday for six, before slamming him to the ground. He started picking off one player after another. Next came Broad’s turn in Fury, Marsh’s Redemption Song. He slashed a faster slash to the fence past the backstop like a flash of lightning, before grinding him through the covers. The crowd settled into broad, library-like grimaces and one could feel the grip of the game fading away in England’s clutches.
Back with a bang! # Ash pic.twitter.com/ORrxjIPZlq
– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 6, 2023
Enter Woods, the England reliever. An epic contest has been prepared. Speed Tycoon vs Speed Killer, raised in the Wild West of Australia. left the first ball. In the second he climbed into a cloud. One so emphatic that it felt like a collective slap in the face to England’s bowlers and the crowd who jeered and booed them. Wood quickly set the man-side short-ball trap with two men behind square. Marsh never guessed the pitcher’s intentions. He was sure of what they would be. He broke a shoulder height guard into the upper tiers.
Wood would return to fuller lengths at an overwhelming pace, but Marsh pulled a pair of bounds pushed to shred morale. Ollie Robinson did not save either, before the player returned with an injury. Moeen Ali was just calling him to cut, which he did and racked up hundreds in 102 balls.
Between strikes on the fence, he demonstrated the power of his technique, the fluidity of his feet, and the fluidity of weight transfer. Marsh is no longer pretentious to be complacent and confident in your luck. He still has a tendency to play with hard hands while driving and defending, and Joe Root’s edge has shown weakness, but he’d shrug it off with better judgment. He wasn’t swinging anything off the stump, but those he knew were among the centenary shots. Marsh reduced shooting-savvy Travis Head to a mere passenger in their 155-round alliance at breakneck speed.
But on sniffing the tea, Wax Marsh caught a short ball which he scooped up to his thigh, then puffed up into the air.
After two breaks, after the faceless Woakes consumed the menacing header, Stokes knew who to trust with tail-blasting duties. He was wood, and he blew away the last four batsmen, two bowled and one leg in front of the wicket in 16 balls of unrestrained pace and purpose. It was a stunning collapse – Australia lost six wickets for 23 runs.
Then, that’s what speed does. The theme of the day was – the bowler who bowled the fastest and the batsman the fastest stole the thunder, emerging from the shadows.
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