Ashes, 5th Test: 'Worn-out' Mark Wood fit to bowl on day five as England eye unlikely win

Seamer Mark Wood is deemed fully fit to bowl on the final day of the home Ashes as England look for an improbable win at the Kia Oval in London. England held him back until the 33rd over on day four before rain interrupted play and washed out the final session, with Australia reeling at 135 for no loss, needing another 249 runs to win the Test and claim away Ashes for the first time since 2001.

English quick bowled over 80 overs across three Tests played, picking 13 wickets at 20.38 and is said to be worn out by now. While Australia’s tactics of tiring the English bowlers seemed to have worked as they sit in the driver’s seat in this final Test, England’s assistant coach Marcus Trescothick insisted Wood would remain available to bowl throughout the final day.

"He's fit to bowl,” Trescothick told media at the close of the day’s play.

When asked about the reason behind bringing Wood late into the attack, Marcus said it was a tactical decision.

"I think pretty much like everybody, there's little aches and pains that are going off the back of a big five-Test series. Both teams will be travelling in the same way at the moment. But yeah, everyone is fit to bowl. It was a tactical decision,” he added.

Bazball backfired for English bowlers

Deploying an ultra-attacking approach, which fans now call Bazball, England had to bear the brunt of it on the flip side. Though their batters showed intent, scoring at over run-a-ball during the five-match series, English bowlers sent down around 193 overs more than what Australian bowlers bowled – a trick that didn’t sit well with ace seamers like Wood.

While Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne went ahead with the plan throughout the series, Michael di Venuto – Oz’s Assistant coach, said it was part of the plan.

"Certainly, part of our plan is to get them to keep coming back and bowling more overs," Venuto said.

On Trescothick’s comment on Wood, Venuto said, "I'm not sure of those tactics," he said. "Whether he is carrying an injury, whether he can only bowl a certain amount of overs, I'm not sure. There was some spin, so [I was] not surprised to see the two off-spinners wheeling away at one end."

Meanwhile, July 31, Monday, which happens to be the final day of intriguing Ashes, is also Stuart Broad’s last day in international cricket. The veteran seamer announced his decision to set aside after the third day’s play, having played for around 17 years and ending as England’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests (with over 600 scalps).

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