Pacer Mark Wood continued to add to his credentials as one of the fastest bowlers produced, delivering the fastest over bowled by an English bowler at home since the beginning of data recording for the same since 2006. In his first over on the morning of day two. of the second Test against West Indies, Wood was firing some rockets. He started his over at 93.9 mph, then went on to produce deliveries of 96.1 mph, 95.2 mph, 92.2 mph, 96.5 mph and 95.2 mph for the rest of his over. The average speed during the over was 94.7 mph, as per Wisden.
The aforementioned over was the fastest over bowled by an England bowler at home since the data for the same started being recorded back in 2006, as per Wisden. In his second over, Wood continued with his fierceness, not bowling a ball slower than 94 mph, with the fastest ball being at 95.7 mph.
But then, in the third over, the scoreboard at the stadium displayed Wood’s speed on the fifth ball at 97 mph, translating to 156 kmph. The speed throughout the over was 95 mph, 93 mph, 95 mph, 96 mph, 97 mph and 94 mph, as per ESPNCricinfo’s data. Wood ended the over with an average speed of 95 mph, breaking his own record that he had set just two overs ago!
After three overs, his figures read, three overs, one maiden over, five runs, and zero wickets. The fifth ball of his third over to Mikyle Louis was a brutal bouncer that Louis avoided successfully.
Notably, in the match, West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first. England delivered a fine batting performance, powered by Ollie Pope’s sixth Test ton (121 in 167 balls, with 15 fours and a six) and fine half-centuries from Ben Duckett (71 in 59 balls, with 14 fours) and skipper Ben Stokes ( 69 in 104 balls, with eight fours). England made 416/10 in 88.3 overs.
Alzarri Joseph (3/98) was the pick of the bowlers for WI. Jayden Seales, Kavem Hodge, Kevin Sinclair took two wickets while Shamar Joseph got one wicket.
In their first inning, WI is tasked with overcoming such a big deficit and on their way to 200 run mark. They have lost three wickets at the time of writing.
West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Mikyle Lewis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, Joshua Da Silva(w), Alzarri Joseph, Kevin Sinclair, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.