'Wood is a bit like him...': Australian legend makes an astonishing remark on Mark Wood

The Australian cricket team was not able to continue their winning momentum in the third Ashes 2023 Test and lost the match by three wickets against England. English pacer Mark Wood was the star of the match and bowled fiery spells in both innings. Wood picked up a total of seven wickets and made 40 runs with the bat in the whole match. 

3 things you need to know 

• England won an Ashes Test after a gap of 1391 days 
• Mark Wood was adjudged Player of the Match for his all-round performance in the third Ashes 2023 Test 
• English batter Harry Brook played an innings of 75 runs from 93 balls which helped his team chase down 251 runs 

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Ricky Ponting lavishes high praise on Mark Wood 

(English pacer Mark Wood during the PAK vs ENG Test series in December 2022 / Image: AP)

Former Australian cricket team skipper Ricky Ponting in the latest edition of the ICC Review lavished high praise on English pacer Mark Wood and said that he is a mix of veteran Aussie pacers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson. 

Wood is a bit like him (Johnson) and a bit like Brett Lee in his prime I reckon as well. Bowling first change, bowling quickly, intimidating batsmen, getting a little bit of movement when it was there. He is just an absolute strike weapon. 

Mark Wood played his last Test match in December 2022 against Pakistan and returned to the team after a gap of eight months. Wood was also seen struggling in the later phases of the third Test, which also gave rise to speculations regarding his fitness among the commentators. 

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Ricky Ponting opens up Mark Wood's biggest challenge 

I think the biggest challenge is getting him through the next couple of games. I know he said after Headingley that he got through I think three Test matches in a row in Australia in the last Ashes series and did it OK. 

The challenge for him is going to be if he keeps his pace at that sort of mid-90 miles an hour because they are like those guys that you know he is not overly tall, he is quite skiddy and when they are not at their absolute top pace-wise they can be quite easy to face. 

The focus of the Ashes 2023 series will now shift to the Old Trafford ground in Manchester wherein English cricket will walk on the ground on regaining the coveted 'urn' after a gap of eight years.