Melbourne: England quick Mark Wood has insisted he wants to keep pushing the boundaries of his pace bowling after he clocked an average delivery speed of 92.6mph (154.8 kmph) against Afghanistan in the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 Group 1 match in Perth on October 22.
England thrashed Afghanistan by five wickets in their opening game with Wood having figures of 2/23 even as Sam Curran came up with a record feat, taking five wickets and giving away just 10 runs.
“I wasn’t really aware of how quickly I was bowling,” Wood was quoted as saying by Daly Mail. “I feel I have more in the tank than that. I struggled in my first couple of overs because I was slipping quite a bit.
“Maybe I’ll have to get those long Aussie spikes or something like that. It’s great to hear what speeds I was reaching but I want to keep pushing the boundaries to get quicker and quicker.”
The England quick bowled the fastest spell in World Cup history with his second delivery clocking 96mph, with an average speed of 92.6mph. While Wood said going faster was definitely possible, he ruled out bowling 100mph.
With the pace bowler now injury-free following a successful recovery from an elbow injury that sidelined him all summer, the 32-year-old’s first delivery against Afghanistan clocked 91mph, while his second ball, which was recorded at 96, went on to surpass former West Indies right-arm quick Fidel Edwards’ delivery in 2009 in the T20 World Cup.
“Shoaib Akhtar has the six fastest-recorded deliveries since the introduction of speed guns, while the ex-Pakistan fast bowler and Australia’s Shaun Tait are the only two ever recorded at more than 100mph, although another Australian in Jeff Thomson might have something to say about who the quickest of all-time might be,” according to the report.
“No, I don’t think so (whether he could join the 100mph club). When you look at the lads who are getting there I don’t think I’m in their bracket. I do think I’ve got a more consistently higher pace than others around at the moment and I feel in a great place. Hopefully, I can keep that going,” said Wood.
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