Mark Wood: We're going to the Ashes with an Australia blueprint to put their batters under pressure'

"My dad would be Australia and I'd be England, Mark Wood says with a wry smile when remembering his first Ashes Tests as a boy in his back garden in Ashington, Northumberland. I'd try to copy Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and, later, Jimmy Anderson, who I'd go on and play with. My dad, who didn't do the actions so well, had to be Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne. He was most proud of his Gillespie but his Warne wasn't great."

"Wood snorts at the idea that his dad, Derek, might have let him win most of those matches. No, no, no. It was proper cricket. You had to give each other lbw and every time I hit my dad in the leg he'd be going: No, that's going over' or That's down the leg side.' I was like: Dad, that was plumb.' I had to get my DRS right."

"Back in the day they played against some pretty good professionals. He still talks about facing Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop. In the garden, we'd bowl to each other from 16 yards away with these little Incrediballs. We did that for years until, when I was 14, I bounced my dad and hit him on the head. At that point he thought: This is a bit much '"

Mark Wood grew up in Ashington, Northumberland, playing Ashes matches in his back garden with his father, impersonating bowlers like Darren Gough, Jimmy Anderson, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. His father Derek took on roles such as Gillespie and Warne and enforced strict, realistic calls including lbw decisions and DRS‑style judgments. They practised for years with Incrediballs until Wood, aged 14, accidentally hit his father on the head. Wood faced quality professionals in club cricket, played on the Gold Coast, and has taken 41 wickets in 11 Tests against Australia, delivering raw pace and decisive performances in key series.

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