England were criticised by legendary former batsman Kevin Pieterson for not training enough during their white-ball tour of India which ended in a 7-1 thrashing
Mark Wood has hit back at accusations that England’s cricket teams are lazy and aren’t hurt by results. Fast bowler Wood insists that England train ‘hard’ under coach Brendon McCullum and Test captain Ben Stokes, admitting that he’s irritated by the narrative that the squad and coaching staff play too much golf in between matches.
During England’s disastrous white-ball tour of India and Champions Trophy nightmare earlier this year, the team were criticised by legendary former batsman Kevin Pietersen for not using more of their days off to train. Four-time Ashes winner Pietersen recently doubled down on his comments, saying: “I stand by every word.”
In March, England managing director Rob Key said that McCullum’s players also need to ‘stop talking rubbish’ in the media, as it gives their critics ammunition. Wood rejects the notion that England don’t work hard enough but acknowledges that they don’t help themselves with ‘dumb’ comments.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, the currently injured quick said: “Sometimes we’ve been so, how can I say this? Naive, a bit dumb in the things we say in the press.
“We’ll say things in the dressing room and that is in the dressing room. It should stay there. Then we come out in the press and we’ll say an off-the-cuff one-liner that maybe a group of lads have been talking about, then it’s in the press, then it looks like we’re Billy Big Boots, above our station. I don’t particularly like that. We’ve got to be respectful.”
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Wood, 35, made a point not to give specific examples and insisted: “I’m not kicking off at the other players.”
Although he didn’t directly reference Pietersen’s comments, the Durham star added: “One thing that does bother me is this narrative of ‘golf, golf, golf’. I don’t play golf. I don’t like it. It’s not a game for me. I know the lads enjoy it and that’s their time off. At times it’s as if the golf is more important, and that is not true at all.
“I cannot stress enough that when we’re at training, especially under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, we train hard. The lads don’t take it for granted that we play for England. This narrative of, ‘oh, well, we’ll play golf, this is the best gig in the world‘, I can understand people’s frustration with it, but I’m telling you, people genuinely care and work hard.
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“I’m there to win for England. That’s what makes me feel uncomfortable, this narrative that we don’t care. It hurts when we get beat. The quotes that come from the team sometimes, we can definitely improve that, because it doesn’t then come across about how people are truly feeling.”
England will begin their home summer with a one-off Test match against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge which gets underway on Thursday, May 22. Wood won’t be involved, as he’s targeting a return from knee surgery in July, which could see him feature in the latter stages of England’s five-match Test series against India.
His long-term goal is to be part of England’s travelling squad to face Australia for the Ashes starting this November. Results this year will define McCullum’s tenure as head coach of the Test teams, having only recently taken charge of their one-day and T20 sides.
