Test Match Special - Mark Wood: Ask Me Anything

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

Jonathan Agnew presents your questions to England bowler Mark Wood in the TMS commentary box at Lord’s. Who is his dream bowling partner? How do you mark your run up? And are the England bowlers in competition about who can bowl the fastest?

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you're getting a fair exchange rate with no extra markups. Be smart. Join the 15 million customers who choose Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply. from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello, I'm Henry Moran. Welcome to the TMS podcast. England's test series against India has brought two of the game's biggest names back to Red Bull cricket in England. Both Jasprey Bumra and Joffa Archer have had wicket-taking returns and to dive into the art of fast bowling. Jonathan Agnew, who knows a thing or two about life as a fast bowler,

quiz England's Mark Wood about life in the fast lane. You're listening to the TMS podcast. from BBC Radio 5 Live. Santosh is going to kick us off, Woody. You never quite know what you're going to get here, and I've not shown you these. Have we not gotten any sort of like, Life in the Fast Lane?

I thought that's what we were... Eagles? Yeah, I thought... No? It just seems to have gone into it very fast, but that's fine. Life in the Fast Lane. Well, if we're getting into it fast,

that would, yeah, fast lane, yeah, of course. One of Jeffrey Boycotts many autobiography is called Life in the Fast Lane. I think it was. I think it was. Anyway, Santosh, it's kind of good, I like this question. Is there competition?

between fast bowlers in a team to see who's bowling the fastest, like looking at the speed guns and so on. I don't know. You'll have to ask the other lads when you're atop of the tree. No, no, of course there is. Course there is. It isn't really?

2019 World Cup. Me and Joff, you know, he would be mid-off or I would be bowling and then he'd be like saying, I remember a couple of them you sent me, are you having a day off today? Are you not trying the day? And then the next ball,

I mean, I would get whacked for four, but I didn't care. I wouldn't be looking at the scoreboard thinking. How quick is that? So, I don't think that's maybe competition. It's more like friendly banter between each other. It's not really taught about that much.

I think sometimes, for example, Josh Tungbold, 92 and 93 last game, and it's noticeable, you're like, wow, that was quick. So I think it's more an appreciation of each other's pace, I would say. Yeah, that's nice. And yeah, he's all jeeing each other up in a way.

Do you believe the speed guns? Have there been balls that you've bowed where you thought, oh, that was quick? You're looking at it says 88. I think it's more the other way around. There's balls where it said 93 or 99. your phone I think I didn't feel as quick as that

but I mean we sit here okay the 100 mile an hour ball I commented on that in Cape Town but we'll show back to yeah and that just looked like

a normal ball to me I mean Nick Knight just tucked to the way to me to wicket didn't he and he said he didn't feel like it was 100 miles an hour I think sometimes

it does feel like that maybe ramped up in certain grounds or certain series or things that are but you know there's days I definitely have felt like

off bowled quick and the speed gun has had high speeds and you think oh well at least it feels like it's marrying up you're not sure exactly how quick it is but some days it leaves your hand

and you think and oh that feels sharp so it's lovely when that happens and you look at the screen and that's it's actually it's a very thrilling thing bowling fast isn't it I mean I'm teasing I wasn't as fast as you I could ball a lively ball

it's a great feeling to run in with a new ball and bowl fast isn't it and you feel the bats from being tentative and you've got the wicketkeeper and the slips and the, I mean, it's a really dramatic, exciting experience. It's that sort of, like, the main, the key word you said there is like you feel free.

That's how I feel when I bow quickly or when you feel like you bowl quickly is that everything feels loose, you're not tense, you're not focused on field positions, anything. You just sort of like you have this lovely whippiness and like, I guess like almost like a medieval catapult or something like that. There's something about it where you just feel like you could. just let go over and you've got all a surge of energy

behind it just like a release of energy and it seems to me that there's two types there's the muscular running ball Darren Goff type

running with a ball and then there's the rhythm bowler who actually needs to bowl and you need that rhythm from the run-up and in some days you can try and bowl

as fast as you like and it doesn't come out right and it's a different thing difficult thing to define rhythm isn't it I mean we know what it is when you play the game, but to try and explain it,

it's kind of just when everything just seamlessly works without thinking about it, your coordination is perfect, isn't it? So what do you think? I feel it all, the beginning of that, it all starts with the run-up. So basically, when I first had that short run-up, I always felt like I had to try muscle it down when I wasn't in rhythm.

But when you are in rhythm, and especially off the longer run-up, I felt it more, is that you can sort of feel like, like bouncy and and light and um sort of carried almost yeah yeah like you're being dragged in at ease yeah and then days where you haven't got that rhythm it feels like you're heavy you're searching for it you're trying too hard and no day any fastball i'll tell you and you know yourself i guess no day feels the same yeah can't today and then i'll bowl i could bowl here and think oh that felt good or this figure and the next day something feels slightly different or slightly off or it might feel

just as good but it's something else that you're focused on so No day feels the same, but when you're in rhythm, all those other little bits that you're noticing sort of fade away. It's almost just like you just, you see the stums, you see why you're aiming for, and everything looks in a clear path, a bit like a, like I've described before on Bowling Fast, it's a bit like an anchor dropping into the sea, or a long runway for an aeroplane or a motorway.

Everything, you just see a clear path of where you're running through, and it just feels... Yeah. I don't really want to say this because it's not what it is, but it almost feels easy, not easy, but easier. Effort, more effortless.

More effortless, yeah, yeah. And when you're running in bowling, how many options... How many options have you got in your repertoire? You've got bouncer, you've got back of a length, you've got length, you've got full, as in Yorker.

So you've got one of maybe four or five options there in your head as you're walking back to your mark, and you've got... out-swinger, you do bowl on inner, don't you? Like a nip-backer, yeah. A nip-backer. And a wobble? Trying that. I'm not great at it, but a nip-batter and then a heavy wobble. But I think when you mention them things, for me, like, when I get back to the top of me mark, I know where I'm trying to aim, but as well as, like, in my back of my mind,

it's like, it could be tired or you could be under pressure. But the thing that can't see my mind when I'm about it, it's like, sort of like, right, this ball is going to be a rocket. This is the one. It doesn't ever, if I could be 50, you know of that deep, but I think, this is the fastest ball of the day, this is the one. So, you sort of like, is you getting there on your turn, and then I, like, maybe it's my dad or something who instilled these values, like, a value in it, like, you never, ever give up.

So, like, when I'm at me market, it's like, this next one, this is the one. This is the one. This is the one. I'm going to try hard. I'm going to run in this ball, and my team needs us, and that kind of thing is what keeps me going and trying, makes me... Yeah. To keep trying to ball fight. And is that ball likely to be a kind of a short of a length,

the fissor in your mind or does the length, not better quite, the distinct length? It does matter, but because I'm shorter, I think you know, I've got maybe less margin for errors in some way, but then more on others because you know, when you both slightly quicker, you might

have a bigger margin because people have maybe sat back a little bit more, but then you've got less of a margin because I'm shorter. So my natural length would be slightly shorter than, say, a Joffra, a tonguey, because they're tall guys, so my own be slightly shorter to still hit the top of the stums. but like you say

I do think it's a combination of I'm trying to rev it up but also you're trying to have that accuracy of what length am I trying to bowl what is the for example the one that you keep talking about the head and he spell it didn't feel to me

like a bold LBW pitch all the time so I felt to me more like a nick off pitch so it was like sort of top of the stums almost maybe at times one day length where you look for the edge and then you go one a little bit fuller whereas there'll be some pitches

that are a bit slower where you think LB bold is the main motor dismissal and then the change-up is the bounce hour or the one that's a bit further back. So you've just got to adjust to the wicked reading and what it dictates. Yeah, it's lovely.

I'm asking all the questions at the moment. I'll move on. Ruth Brooks Bank. I love talking fast bowling, though. It's great, and I mean, it's been... I could talk about it all day, I love it. Yeah, me too. It's just been my life.

So Ruth is listening on the beach at Saltburn by the sea. Where's Saltburn by the sea? Saltburn, is that, Middlesbrough way? Is that your way? Yeah. Is it? It could well be.

If you could share the bowling with any of, oh, let's say, if any of England's past greats, aside from Aggers, she says mischievously, who would you choose and why? What a good question, Ruth, that is. It is a good question. What I will say is before I give my answer is I have shared it with two of England's greatest in Broaden Anderson. Oh, yes.

So, like, not the type of granted, I certainly don't, but I was very lucky to bowl with those two guys who are. some of, you know, England's best ever. So if I could personally choose who I would love to have had to go with, it would have been Darren Goff, like you mentioned before, when I grew up watching him. He was someone whose action I tried to do in the back garden, so I loved his character and he's, you know, the way he was as a player.

So Darren Goff, Harmi was my hero growing up, obviously, from Ashton, so I would love to have bowled with Harmi and his pomp and two Ashton lads together. That would have been an amazing thing. And then another England bowler who I generally think I would have loved loved to have just just from watching highlights of himself

would have been Bob Willis steaming in that sort of wide-arched run-up I mean if me and him bowl together

I mean the bowling overrate might not have been great but it would have been great to be up close with him and pick his brain

because he did this sort of villain didn't he on the sky sports and I was part of that when I first came along and he'd be critical of me

but I got to meet him a couple of times behind the scenes he plays that role but behind the scenes he's desperate for England he was desperate of England to do well

and for you to do well and I think I would have loved to have bowled with him. Yes, he still played, I think they called him a chain sword didn't they? Yeah. He'd self mowed everyone down.

That was not the real bob. What about, so the problem with this question, Ruth, is that these bowlers, you'll be fighting for the same end, that's the trouble, right? You're going to want to bow down. Down wind.

Yes, you are. That's going to cause a bit of a problem. That's what I've seen to our fair as well. Someone like Chris walks was a great foil for me. He's someone that I've really enjoyed bowling, so if I think of people in the past, someone like a Hoggard might have been great for me to bowl with and we could have

dovetailed really well What do you want it? Do you want someone who's just accurate at the other end and giving nothing away like Glenn McGraw type of person? I love bowling with Jimmy for example because Jimmy would he would talk you through what he's doing at his end and what he's thinking so I remember our famous spell that

Jimmy bowled in Sri Lanka so me and him were the only two CMAs and he set up I think it was tick well out was the one of honestly the best bit of bowling I've seen so we were bowling together I was bowling reverse swing he was bowling with a seven two field and he had two catchers in front of the bat

and someone like me, so I'm pushing him back, I'm trying to bowl quickly, I'm bowling, bounce as I'm trying to draw him into that one where he pushes outside the off-storm. Jimmy, completely different feeling here, so he's gone right, I'm going to drag him forward, drag him forward, I'm going to try and get him caught with these guys in front.

He says, I'm going to bowl dead straight, dead straight, dead straight, and then I'm going to throw one wide and slower, aim for them footholes, honestly, work like so two overs, just outside off-stom, met him play, met him play, met him play, met him play,

slow and wide outside of Stone, caught me off. And I was like, beautiful. This bloke is a genius. But together, we worked well as that he was keeping it tight. He had a clear plan.

We were talking together about how I was working from my end, attacking. He was setting this thing up at the other end, so I was keeping them back. And often when he bowl with people like that, so with the walks or with myself, so if he can keep a tight one

and I can go attack, and it doesn't so much matter about the over rate or he's setting them up a different way. He's making them play a different way to how I would play. So it gets people out that, comfort zone and things that so I often do enjoy with someone like maybe a hoggard

I could have dovetailed well with him yeah I think I think you would nice one Rory in Putney well actually finally off Axel comes a bit off the back of that story but are there any pitches or scenarios in which

a proper genuine pace bowler would lower his speed to try to get more out of the pitch have you ever done that yes only once have I done that because I feel like my What I'm my worth to the team or what I bring to the team is Pace, that's, that's, you know, that's my role in the team as to pull quickly. But there was a spell in Pakistan, a way where the pitch was really slow.

I think it was Moulton. Oh, yes. And the ball was reversing. So I did an over at the opener. What was his name, right-hander? It was a right-handed opener for Pakistan. And I talked to Stokesy, I said, and I think Ollie Robinson was a bit on. And this has said, why don't you bowl a couple of balls as if you're tired?

so I bowled two balls as if I was tired at like 82, 83 and then I thought, right, this is the one and I bowled at as quick, a yorker, as quickly, he dug it out, it was as fast as I could at like, I think it was 90 clicks, so I was like... Great plan, though. As if, like, I'm tired of, and they're thinking, oh, he's, like, he's done.

And all of a sudden, like, woof, I tried to get one through on those doorsail wickets, so I didn't get it through, but that's probably the only time I've done that. Yeah, it's a good plan. Yeah, it didn't work like, but... No, no, well, almost work, that'll do. Chris is on the beach in,

all cross. Can you ask Mark how fast he could bowl if he sacrificed all accuracy for pure speed? And can you explain the trade-off between speed and accuracy? And are you aiming for a spot the size of a dust

bin lid? She's a wheelie bins these days, Chris, but there you go. Or is it bigger or smaller? That kind of goes back to that question. Talking about the lengths, isn't it? The options that you have in your mind. But first of all, if you just thought, and this ran in and just hurled the ball down as fast as you could

would you bowl faster, I guess the question is faster at just doing that as opposed to if you just bowled, you know, rolled into the pitch. I think sometimes actually when you are warming up or when you bowl slow and there's, you know like when I'm coming back from injury now, you bow with a stump and there's no batter there, you actually bowl less accurate.

Yes. I think actually when you have full tick or you've, you know, you've trained your body that way to get in those positions or certainly if you're maybe at 90%, not 100%, but 90%, 95% and you've trained your body to get on those positions. Actually, your body gets in a better position when you're full on. And when you've got the queue of a bat hour, or where you're trying to aim for or the field, sometimes that can

actually help. So I wouldn't necessarily think that I would bowl quick. If you just sacrifice everything, I mean, two, three years ago, I wouldn't have thought that I would have got up to 97, which is what I got to last summer. So, you know, I'm still trying to push that gun and see how far it can get. So hopefully there's a little bit. I mean, if I sacrificed it all, could I maybe get 98 maybe but um have to be a pretty strong breeze yeah

it's hard bowling at cones and a single stump or whatever isn't it I mean because you have sorry and yes the second bit was that yeah when you mentioned cones it was that the accuracy thing yeah sorry yeah you did mention that the dustbin I would say for me

it depends because Jimmy would sometimes notice things on the pitch and he'd say that there's right can you see that mark or the follow through on the pitch and that's the area he would aim for well whereas that's not I kind of landed on a 10 pence piece like him Mine's a sort of area of where I'm trying to ball on top of the stumps or like it might be fourth stump or fifth stump or an area or a length.

And then I determine on how the pitch is playing and what that length is to hit that area that I'm aiming for. I think it's quite important that I bowl a bouncer at some point early in my spell so you get used to what length that is. Or how the pitch is reacting and also that hard length where you're hitting the top of the stumps. Is that slightly full at today or is it slightly shorter? that you've seen on pitches all around the country,

somewhere like Old Traffard, which is generally a quicker pitch, you've got to be slightly full ahead of the top of the stone, somewhere like loads a bit slight, could be maybe slightly shorter, something like that. So it just depends. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. To embrace the impossible requires a vehicle that pushes what's possible. Defender 110 boasts a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms,

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Flavors, experimentation and tradition, Turkey has it all. Plan your detour at go-turkia.com. Good afternoon, Agues and Woody. This comes from Ian Lammerton and also Harry. My nine-year-old son, Harry, has been working hard on his bowling over the summer so far. This time last year, we were working on bowling from a standing position, just focusing, he's nine years old, focusing on keeping the arm straight, are you not throwing it?

Yep. At the beginning of this summer, we moved to bowling. off three steps, learning a bit of line and length. Now we've moved on to seam and wrist position, and he bowled me twice in a net session on Tuesday with balls that moved into me. Brackets, it might say

more about the standard of my batting. My question is regarding the run-up. So Harry has now moved on to bowling off seven paces. How do you work out the best length run-up? Is it just trial and error? Then see, do you work out what works best? That's a really good question that.

Well, I'd say it, firstly, he's done the right thing in terms of like gradually building them back from standing and then moving back and moving back till you're comfortable. The next part of the runabouts is if he starts, if the stumps is his mark, so he's facing back, so not down the wicket,

you turn around and face back towards the grass or, you know, the side screen. The stump is your mark and then you just close your eyes and run back and bowl your action from there. And this is how I would do when I was a kid or how I would do with the All-Stars as I'm going back tomorrow

to do some work at Ashton Crick Club I would start the young kids at the stumps run back with your eyes and bowl your natural ball mark that corn where you've landed go back close your eyes start from the stumps

running from the stumps ball mark where you're and what you'll do is you'll start to get an idea of roughly maybe if you do 60 eight balls of where they're landing and where they may do two here four or five there and one there and you think oh well that four or five looks like that's the one

where they're most comfortable and then you say right this time I want you to bowl with your eyes open and run back and just naturally bowl and say if they're still land in that four or five coned area then mark that run up turn them around and you say right that's your mark hit that mark and running in both you go yeah that's yeah I like that I think I remember actually thanks my my the way I did it was just through copying someone I've seen on the telly in my case fast bowler Peter lever yeah I copied his run up yeah I tried to copy his action you said he tried to copy Darren Goff's action didn't you actually you can see glimps

of Gophiles in your action. So maybe that's another thing, too, if he's looking at somebody bowling, looking at Joffere or looking at whoever it may be, cast or whatever, if you're trying to be that bowler in your mind, maybe that's a good starting point as well. You soon get the rhythm, don't you?

You soon get the paces that they have. Well, the rhythm's the key, isn't it? You've got to get the paces right, plus your arms get used to running with the ball in your hand, because it's totally different, me telling you to sprint to run with the ball. So you've got to get used to all that as well. Do you try and hide the ball?

I mean, that always got me with Jimmy. I never understood how he could run, Yeah, I can do it to an extent But then when I get into my sort of jump gather I've got a heaven in my hand He could do it very late whereas it's a bit late for me Or sometimes I would watch like Wazimakram He would keep it in his hand but you'd hide it with the other hand

So that's probably a little bit more natural But you've got to get used to to running in a certain way You know how you mentioned before about me Which England baller would I like to have pulled with What about you? If you could have had any of them Would you pick one of the modern ballas or would you What now? Well, you, if you could have had any of them

you could have bowled with any England bowler. That's a good question. Past or present, who would that have been? Broad. Got a good relationship together. We're good, mate. We might have got a bit competition. Might have been a bit fierce out there.

Yeah. Because he likes to, he's quite competitive, Stuart, isn't he? Does someone come to mind straight away? That you think, I thought. I think I'd like, I don't know how, I'm going to fudge your question slightly. Yeah. I'd love to have played under Ben Stokes as captain. Right.

So therefore I'd like to bowl with him, I guess. I just love the way he leads the team. Yes, he could be stubborn, yes, and all that stuff. But I think that kind of goes to the territory, doesn't it? Alison Cook over there, he was also extremely stubborn. I think it goes to the territory. He didn't have any told me in the wind all the team? So I think I'd like to bowl with Ben.

Martin Curtis is all about rhythm. I think we've sort of touched rhythm, Martin. I hope we've sort of helped a bit there. He's saying about thousands of overs in club cricket. Sometimes it just didn't have that rhythm. How do I try and he says he's now coaching I try and convey what rhythm is to his charges I suppose

when bowling I mean it's such a difficult thing to define isn't it it's not over striding again we start at the run-up because that's where everything starts it's not over striding or running in too quick it's sort of getting that sweet spot where you're not just jogging but you're not sprinting and losing balance you've got to have that momentum to get you to the crease

but then the ability to sort of gather your run-up into your action. It's got to be that sort of nice pace where you can still be controlled when you jump in your jump gather. And the other thing for rhythm out is often if you try too hard or you muscle it down or you're trying to bowl too fast.

I think it's not like you've got to think technically. I'm not a technical person myself where you think your arms have got to be here and your legs and your feet have got to be here. There's that to a certain extent, but it's more the fact that you've got to be able to try and keep it simple and keep everything in a straight line.

If something goes one way, there's got to be an opposite reaction. So if your arm pulls out quick to the left, then your right has to count and balance it and all this kind of stuff. So I think rhythm is trying to keep it as simple as possible and be as controlled and gathered at the crease as you can. And as a relaxed as possible, not trying too hard. Yeah, I think that sounds about right. Now, here's an interesting one.

Ian Ford. Sorry, sorry, and to help with that, it may be going away from, you know, competition-style thing. It might be a feel thing, so it could be like you could put a foam on top of the stumps. It could be a marker on the pitch. It could be swinging it around a stump. It could be right, we're working on what seam and wobble seam.

And it takes your mind off trying too hard. It then becomes sort of focused based rather than, right, you're just going to try and run in and pull fast to get wickets. It's all of a sudden, right, you're trying to learn something new or you're trying to do something really accurate, and it could take your mind off that. Yeah, no, I take that on board. Ian Forbes is listening in the pathology,

Department of, and I hope we're going to say this right, Fallon Hospital in Sweden. I've probably been there for an operation, have I? You might, well, have you, see if you tick Sweden off yet? If you had some of those operations with inject strange stuff in, didn't you? Yeah, I've had them all, didn't worry about them. All sorts of strange concoctions, are there?

Oh, well. That's why I glow at night, radio active. He said, when did the imaginary horse first appear? I've not seen the horse for a while. Is it still... Yeah, it first appeared at Durham, actually. Me, Mark Stormman, who was there. We were bored one day. and he was the Earl of Sunnyside

and I was the Duke of Ashington and we'd charge each other on the field when we were board I think the opposition was about 500 for one at the time that's where it started and then obviously the Mark Stumann told a member of the media, the media got a hold of it before my England debut and it became a thing

I took a catch here at Lords I think it was Tim Sealthy off the bowling and Jimmy Anderson and of course I did the horse celebration and got a bit of a cheer but then it sort of became where every ground I went to around the country was Mark where's your horse and after that I had to let it go

and that was it I put up in the stables and that's it says in the stables it's gone forever now well that's a bit of a shame Stephen Pickles I saw this happening other day Stephen

and I don't know that's the result of your question I was watching the left arm quick for India yes practicing something I'd never seen before and that was he was bowling to a coach

at a reasonable pace and the coach was hitting back return catches at him I hadn't seen that before I've never seen that I guess a T20 installed you know IPL in that

I've seen it with spin Like spin has practice in that but never Yeah A quick bowler was doing it He was saying Is there a routine For fast bowlers to catch balls

Off their own bowling And I've never seen it before No I've never seen that before either I don't know if it's a soft ball Well in modern cricket Especially T20 and stuff Sometimes you can expect them to If you're aiming for a York

And you get it wrong It's coming back you're pretty hard So I sort of get why people May practice that But no I've never I've never done no no i'll say but they were doing it the other day at edgebaston oh we've had an email from ashington ash it's in sussex though it's not the it's the other ashington i got you so excited i know i know ashington west sussex morning angers and woody or afternoon actually

what are you thinking about on your run-up are you thinking about the ball you're about to bowl or does your mind wander uh sometimes my mind does wander If you're not a rubbish ball, you might have done. And sometimes when the Barmy Army, I'm singing my song, I'm up with the Barmy Army's tune. It gives me a little bit of a kick for the next ball. Is that right? Yeah, shake it up woody now.

And as I'm on the turn, they do this thing where they're going, ah, ah, ah. They do, build up. So I deliberately try and slow it until they give it there. Shaking it up, and then I'm back in for the next one. So, yeah, I probably should admit that. Because then the captain now is going to be, like, running a ball this ball, don't listen to the crowd.

So, yeah, sometimes I do, you know, I'll miss the odd. I let my mind wonder the odd ball. But really it's, you've, you've thinking about what's gone well or what you've done the previous ball or what hasn't gone well, sometimes in my case, and then you're focused on the next. Yeah, yeah, it is interesting.

Right. Duncan, and I'll ask you question. It's a very good question's coming in. Well, don't know, they're really good. There's so much in cricket about the intangible variables, especially the weather. Do you think things such as a few clouds overhead genuinely affect bowling, or has this just become, institutionalised superstition.

Good question. That is a good question. What do you think? I can't help but think that clouds and heavy atmosphere does... There must be something in it because it's been around for so long

for people to say that. There must be something in it. So I do think that. I think sometimes sometimes I do think it depends on the ball as well. If the ball goes out of share but sometimes you've got the most

pristine ball and you think why is this not swinging and it must be the conditions and other times the ball you know the conditions it shouldn't swing and it does and it just didn't quite marry up so I think the ball does have some of the play

but I'd like a warm a warm day especially under cloud is a swinging day to feel like that human I mean today you'd not expect the ball to swing today would you? Not around corners I'd hope for a little bit of movement but not around corners no

and equally I've always found on a cold if there's a chilly wind not that nice or cool dampy sort of a wind because that might swing I know for a fact that England did work on this behind the scenes Analyst and they did stuff at Lufber about the ball

and how it reacts into the wind, against the wind, how it swings and stuff for that. I kind of remember the results exactly, but I remember that there is something about the ball swinging if you're bowling into the wind and the ball swinging more into the wind. Stuff like that. Yeah.

Must be something to do with the air dynamic. In a way, it's great that there isn't a definitive answer because it's one of the things that we're talking about. Yeah, well that's what makes it great. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. The variables. Yeah, absolutely. There was one here.

Ben and Aussie in Edinburgh That's all right Ben, we'll forgive you Enough about bowling Woody How high up the order do you really think You should bat I mean those hook shots You destroyed Patrick? No, no

You took him to the cleaners That's fear That's fear that destroys him not It's not ability, that's just fear You also worked on it pretty hard though No, I'm happy being down there Honestly I'm happy being down there And when I was younger

I almost worked on my batten As if I wanted to become a proper batter But the world I've gotten, especially under McCollum, it wants to be at times just try and change the momentum for the crowd or get the crowd up for, maybe try and get a few fours or sixes away. The more I've looked at it when I'm older. When I try and back properly, there's times I've defended and just got out, and I think, well, why am I not just attacking or trying to get runs?

And then I've also had my dad, who's a big one for my granddad, who says, keep the ball on the bottom and you can never get caught. I'm like, thanks, Grandin, that's great advice. That's throwing it at 90-mile an hour at me face. wish it was that easy but yeah my dad is someone that's quite critical my bat and wants me to bat properly all the time but um yeah i wish i wish i could stick in there a little bit more but it's been some knocks i've really enjoyed especially lately if you injure anybody badly and i'm a question i certainly thought of that because when i was playing there were no helmets i'm talking about kids you're playing at school when you're quick and you're up against you know kids who really aren't very good i remember you know smashing a guy's nose and stuff and you and and and you and You know, you sort of feel horrible about it afterwards. Yeah. But these days there are more helmets than that.

And I suspect probably everyone is battered against you. Is what a helmet at that? Yeah, and you think about the dog sticks that the coaches have. Batters now have all the equipment. So when I batter have chest guard, arm guard, all this stuff. So actually get used to facing quickerball and being protected by it. So I think people are tail-enders or lower-order players sometimes, you know, they've improved their batting a lot and they can stick it.

that in there a little bit more. We couldn't wear chest pads. We'd have been teased to death. Yeah. If we've gone out there, like, otherwise you're let, it's seen as you're letting, if you get hit as a bowler,

and you can't bowl because you've broke a rib or you've been hit, it's seen as letting the team down so you've almost got to wear one now. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. I'd love to have worn one.

But we just have been, we'd have been teased. Well, the little lad in this. Tough as have walked out with a chest pad on in our date. You'd have been teased relentlessly, wouldn't you? Yeah, you'd have been...

The little lad in the secretly loves it, though, because I feel like it's like a suit of armour where I'm sort of like a night gun out there with my armour and I'm gone into battle, so a little lad and it sort of loves it. Rupert in Welsh pool, the last one, a professional number 11, can you see fear in the rabbit's eyes as you approach the delivery crease? And if so, this does come for a number 11.

Do you feel big and clever? Oh, no, you don't feel big and clever, no, no, no. Sometimes you can sense it, though, when you feel on top of people or you feel like there's that fear. I'm sure there's plenty of bullers. I've seen that in my eyes when I've come out about as well I mean Wahhab Reyes bowl the spell

at me in Dubai it was honestly so fast on a Abu Dhabi sorry and it was a slow wicket and my eyes were wide that day put it that way so yeah it's certainly not nice when you've got to go out there

no fast ball no it's not well thanks to Agas and also to Mark Wood for being part of the TMS team during the summer as he continues to recover from injury I'm sure we'll see him back out there

in the England colours in the not too distant future. That's it for this episode of the TMS podcast. Make sure that you're subscribed so you never miss an episode, including the latest from Tail Enders with Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Felix White. Plus, no balls to cricket podcast

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