Leeds, Aug 20 — Fast bowler Mark Wood said he looks back on his performance in England's dismal Ashes campaign in Australia with ‘shame,’ adding that the tourists should have won the opening Test in Perth before their tour unravelled both on and off the field.
Wood was battling a knee injury before the series and played in the opening match but was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the tour due to the same issue and has not featured in competitive cricket since then. In Perth, England lost nine wickets for 99 runs before Travis Head smashed a blistering 123 to chase down 205.
"I look back on it shamefully. We should have won that first game. The whole tour was different if we won in Perth. Australia were there for the taking. Then the game just seemed to be in fast-forward, which is why I feel shame, because the game was finished.
"At one point, Gus Atkinson was bowling; we were just bowling bouncers at Head, and he was smacking them, and I remember looking at the score and thinking, 'this game is finished'.
“I stopped the play and went to Gus to say, 'What are we actually doing here, because this is the last resort? If you don't change it now, we're finished, and the game is literally gone'. Head was so good that day, and then the momentum was with them. I just look back and think 'what a shame'. It's a total missed opportunity," said Wood to BBC TMS during the ongoing England-Pakistan Test.
From a personal standpoint, Wood conceded that he was far from match-ready heading into the Perth game after suffering elbow, knee, and hamstring issues. "I look back at it from a personal point of view that I was nowhere near ready.
“Coming to Perth, my knee probably wasn't right, and then my hamstring – I've never had a hamstring problem in my whole career. I think the hamstring was over-compensating for my knee, protecting my knee, and that's why it got tight. I remember bowling in the nets in Perth, almost convincing myself I'm ready to go, then at the back of my mind thinking, 'I'm nowhere near'," he said.
England's campaign was further complicated by relentless media scrutiny, including reporters following players to golf courses, an aquarium, and an incident where Wood was photographed riding an e-scooter without a helmet in Brisbane.
"People can say what they want about when Australia comes here, but if they get followed as we got followed in Australia, I would be amazed. Me and Ben Stokes went for a walk, and this guy fell out of the bush with his camera. We had reporters running after us, asking us questions.
"A lot of the time we were doing interviews, saying outlandish things that probably didn't help the cause. It just felt like a huge pressure cooker, more so than normal. The scrutiny and pressure the team was under, even in the dressing room – from a team that is usually quite relaxed, there were more heated discussions than I remembered in that team. This shouldn't be an excuse. The main problem is we didn't play well."
Addressing the controversy over a mid-tour trip to Noosa, where players were criticised for drinking outside a roadside bar, Wood distanced himself from the situation while respecting his teammates' choices.
"I wouldn't have done that. If I were a drinker, I wouldn't have done that, but that's not to say what I think is right or wrong, that I'm righteous, or that I would have done the right thing. I wouldn't have done that because of what people might perceive me to be.
"Their choice is their own. They're grown men. If it is to their detriment and they don't play well, that's a detriment to your career, so that's up to you as an adult. My choice might have been different, but that is my choice, and I've made loads of bad choices in my career."
Wood also defended his teammates over public criticism regarding the squad's frequent golfing habits under former captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. "The perception of how it looks to people is worse than what it actually was. Is it a bad thing? The lads get to spend loads of time together. They don't just play golf; they're talking about cricket.
“You get away from the mental pressures of the tour, or at home. I see both points. The problem for me is how it's perceived by the public. That's the bit that looks wrong to me. I liked to get away and see where we were staying. You'd often fly into a place, see a hotel, or fly out. I'd often grab Mark Saxby, the masseur, or Chris Woakes, and we would go to a coffee shop or find somewhere."