Former England cricketers Steve Harmison and Mark Butcher are not happy with the way England Captain Joe Root handled Mark Wood in the fourth Test at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Wood continued to bowl late in Australia’s second innings when Usman Khawaja and Cameron were pushing towards a declaration on Day 4. Root’s tactic was called crazy by Butcher as Wood has been injury prone throughout his career. Wood bowled a total of 15 overs, more than both James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
“I think this is crazy, Mark Wood hurtling in here, I really do. He’s not exactly been less expensive than Jack Leach was, and the risk of damaging him before the final Test match at Hobart, bowling futile overs at the back-end of this innings is just madness to me,” Butcher said while commentating on BT Sport.
“We’ve talked about Joe’s captaincy and fielding positions and things that have been labelled at Joe, and I’ve stuck up for him a little bit,” added Harmison.
“You talk about fielding positions for Leach, it’s about how the bowler bowls. But some decisions are baffling, and to have your strike bowler bowling overs when they’re setting up a declaration, when they’ve got a bit of an injury track record and background anyway, I just think it’s madness,” said Harmison further.
The former England pacer also stated out that with England potentially set to miss Ben Stokes through injury for the final Test, losing Wood would “cap the tour off” for England. To add to the injury list, Jos Buttler is already ruled out of the final Test.
Meanwhile, the game ended in a draw and hence, the series remains 3-0 in favour of Australia. The final Test will get underway next week in Hobart. Australia have already won the Ashes 2021-22 Moreover, the hosts have given themselves a great start to their journey in ICC World Test Championship 2021-22.
