Mark Wooden had a sensational return to Check cricket after lacking out on the primary two matches of the Ashes 2023 sequence as a consequence of health points. The fitting-arm seamer turned out to be a game-changer for England within the third Check at Headingley as he shocked the Australian batters along with his sheer tempo and bagged seven general wickets throughout two innings. Within the course of, he additionally bowled the quickest ever over within the historical past of Headingley.

Other than his bowling prowess, Wooden contributed with the bat as effectively. The 33-year-old scored precious 24 and 16 runs for England in each innings, respectively. The all-round efficiency by Wooden earned him the well-deserved ‘Participant of the Match’ award as effectively.

Wooden’s compatriot Ollie Robinson has now talked concerning the former’s dream return and his influence on the group in his latest column for Wisden. Robinson highlighted the impact Wooden had on the Australian batters in his article and identified the mark he left within the heads of the Aussie gamers along with his deadly deliveries.

“I’ve by no means seen a spell like Woody’s on that first morning. I used to be at mid-off to begin with, and first few balls, I assumed, ‘Jeez, that appears fairly fast…’ He carried on by means of the over, completed the job, after which somebody ran previous me from slip and mentioned that they had been standing previous my bowling mark, which is 22-and-a-half metres again,” wrote Robinson.

“The actual fact he was constantly getting the form and motion on it as effectively – at that pace – was simply unbelievable bowling. It was simply wonderful to observe and be part of. Although not so wonderful for the batters, I’d think about. Each batter throughout that spell was doing the identical factor. It was awkwardly quick and awkwardly uncomfortable, and as a batter you’re making an attempt to convey that you simply’re wonderful whenever you’re actually not,” he added.

Robinson additional even revealed some hilarious dressing room antics of Wooden and said that one would possibly assume he’s drunk after seeing his humorous aspect. Nonetheless, he cleared that Wooden doesn’t devour any alcoholic drinks. Robinson mentioned a humorous dressing room incident ten minutes earlier than the match involving Wooden in his column as effectively.

“Woody’s simply bought this mad, distinctive power. There’s nobody else like him. You assume he’s drunk half the time but he doesn’t contact a drop. Keep in mind this can be a bloke who, 10 minutes earlier than we went out, actually at 10:50 am, was on all-fours barking on the altering room ground, going, ‘right here’s a canine within the dressing room. There’s a canine in right here, lads…,” wrote Robinson.