After Chris Woakes and Mark Wood shared the match-clinching partnership in the third Ashes Test at Headingley, it came as little surprise to learn they share much else besides.
The two men had driven together to the ground each day, always parking in the same spot. And when they go on tour, they bring each other’s favourite treats: chocolate digestives for Woakes, Ferrero Rocher for Wood.
It even emerged that Woakes holds Wood’s hand during internal flights on small aircraft, to ease his fear of flying.
Woakes, though, presumably drew the line at Wood’s behaviour in the Headingley dressing room, where according to fellow seamer Ollie Robinson he went down on all fours and barked like a dog. You do not have to be mad to win the Ashes, but it certainly helps…
Both men had missed England’s defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s. By the time they had shared 13 wickets in the third Test, and put on an unbroken 24 to secure victory, they had become the greatest Ashes bromance since the days when the mutual affection between Australian openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer would cause eyerolls among team-mates.
Mark Wood (left) and Chris Woakes are the unlikely bromance that brought England back into the Ashes
The England duo clinched victory for England in the third Ashes Test at Headingley to keep themselves in the hunt for the urn
Perhaps it was no great shock that newcomers on both sides fared best in Leeds, where the game started only four days after Australia’s emotionally-charged win at Lord’s. Woakes and Wood were raring to go for England, just as Mitchell Marsh — whose powerful run-a-ball 118 saved Australia from collapse in the first innings — was for the tourists.
But while Marsh may yet give way to Australia’s first-choice all-rounder Cameron Green in Manchester, the interventions of the Two Ws — with apologies to Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes — have changed the perception of this remarkable Ashes series. In Wood’s case, the impact has been electrifying.
Asked by Ben Stokes, his old mate from Durham days, whether he was ready to bowl ‘thunderbolts’, Wood said he was — and obliged with the quickest spell by an England bowler in a home Test, at one point reaching the heights of 96.5mph.
Five wickets in the first innings were followed by two in the second, but his batting proved crucial, too. For all the whispers that Bazball England go easy on the practice sessions, Wood had spent time both before the game and during the lunch breaks at Headingley facing bouncers slung down by assistant coach Paul Collingwood.
After the interval on the second day, with England in strife at 142 for seven, he thrashed Mitchell Starc’s first three deliveries for six, four and six, before top-edging Pat Cummins for six more. On the last day, it was Wood’s hook for six off Cummins that eased English nerves after the departure of Harry Brook with 21 still required.
In all, he made 40 runs in the Test off just 16 balls — his strike-rate of 250 was the highest in the game’s history. If the pitch at Old Trafford proves as lively, Wood could be in business again when the fourth Test starts on Wednesday. And no matter that, in his ninth summer as a Test player, he is yet to play a Test there.
Woakes cannot get enough of the place. Much has been made of his outstanding record at Lord’s, which is why his omission from the second Test raised one or two eyebrows. Yet Old Trafford has brought him 23 Test wickets at 18, and 188 runs at 47, including an unbeaten 84 to seal a tough chase against Pakistan three years ago.
If Wood had not played a Test since the previous December in Pakistan, Woakes’s absence stretched back to the miserable tour of the Caribbean in March 2022 — the trip that spelled the end for Joe Root’s captaincy.
Wood (right) and Woakes (left) share a strong friendship that extends beyond cricket
Wood (pictured) was asked to bowl ‘thunderbolts’ by Ben Stokes and obliged with the quickest spell by an England bowler in a home Test, at one point reaching the heights of 96.5mph
He had not quite given up hope in the meantime, turning down the IPL this year because he wanted to focus on his red-ball fitness. But the thought did cross his mind that, at the age of 34, he had played his last game for England.
And like Wood, he chipped in with both ball and bat: six Australian wickets in the match, all top-seven players, then a nerveless 32no on the final afternoon, when he and Brook added a vital 59. Woakes’s presence at No8 gave them lower-order ballast which — for all Stuart Broad’s heroics with the bat at Lord’s — had been missing.
For both men, Headingley brought a sense of release, of a chance they might not have envisaged, perhaps even the equivalent of a free hit.
Manchester will bring more expectation, not least because England fans will hope Wood can have the Australians hopping around once more as Stokes’s team seek to square the series ahead of the final Test at The Oval.
With Woakes and Wood likely to retain their places at Old Trafford, and Broad undroppable at the top of the series’ wicket-taking charts, England may limit themselves to one change: Jimmy Anderson, who was rested at Headingley, for Robinson, who suffered a back spasm there — even though he insists he is fit again.
Woakes’s presence at No8 gave England the lower-order ballast which had previously been missing
Wood is likely to retain his place ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford after his electrifying display
The other option is Josh Tongue, who took five wickets on his Ashes debut at Lord’s and worried Australia’s top order with his pace. Tongue, though, is regarded by the management as Wood’s deputy, and it is hard to see how Anderson misses out at his home ground if he feels ready to play.
Australia, for their part, must work out if they can fit Marsh and Green in the same side — a scenario that would probably involve dropping veteran opener David Warner. Despite his struggles against Broad, that seems unlikely as they look for the win, or the draw, that would see them retain the urn.
Seamer Scott Boland, meanwhile, could make way for Josh Hazlewood after taking just two wickets in two games at an average of 115, and going at nearly five an over.
Whatever sides both choose, it is hard to imagine anything other than another classic.
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