England’s gun fast bowler Mark Wood has opined that the English bowlers are not concerned about leaking runs and their main focus is on taking wickets. The visitors are trailing by 0-2 in the five-match T20I series against India after losing the first two games.
The tourists suffered a seven-wicket loss in the opening game at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, and then suffered a two-wicket loss in the second game at Chennai.
While England bowlers suffered a thrashing by Abhishek Sharma in the opening game, they came up with an improved bowling show in the second match while defending 166. But England’s pack leader Jofra Archer was taken for 60 runs in his quota of four overs in the second game.
“We’ll just be trying to take wickets. I don’t think (Brendon) McCullum wants us to worry about runs too much, he’s all about how we can impact the game that way,” Wood said on the eve of the third T20I.
“We bowled well in the last game as a group. With the target they were chasing (167), we were always looking for that attacking option of taking wickets. Some might have gone for a few runs at times, but I also felt what was going to win us the game was trying to bowl them out,” he added.
Wood added they have got plenty of bowling options under their sleeve and they would look to keep up the aggressive approach.
“And we’ve got a lot of options: Livingstone, Bethell, if he comes back. As a pace bowling group, the other night maybe there was one or two overs we might have changed, but in general we kept coming at the India batters,” Wood said.
The express fast bowler admitted he has been hot and cold so far in the first two T20Is against India.
“I felt a little bit hit and miss — I’ve done a couple of good things, it’s great that my pace has been up there and I feel it’s coming out of my hand well, but the accuracy at times hasn’t been quite where I wanted it. But when I haven’t played since August, it’s pretty much expected — I’ve played two games since then.
“Hopefully the more I play, the better I get leading into the 50-over stuff and the Champions Trophy. I’ll keep trying my best and try to improve in training. Hopefully, that narrows my focus even more.”
The third T20I between India and England will be played at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot on Tuesday.
