The 35-year-old England National Cricket Team express pacer Mark Wood was involved in a shocking incident during his team’s opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The incident took place during the fourth match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 between England and Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Saturday, February 22.
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Mark Wood confronted by umpire
Wood is regarded as one of the best and fastest bowlers in world cricket. He is known for troubling the batters with his express pace and he makes life hell for them with his short balls.
Mark Wood, although is an injury-prone player, makes a huge impact for his team across all three formats of the game whenever he is part of the playing XI.
He featured in the England playing XI in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opening match against arch-rivals Australia and was breathing fire while defending the total.
In his first over, Mark Wood bowled five deliveries of over 150 Kmph, and then in his second over, he bowled all six thunderbolts at a speed of over 150 Kmph.
However, in the middle of his second over, he was summoned by the umpire as the latter found something suspicious. The on-field umpire noticed that Mark Wood was wearing a tape/plaster on one of his fingers of the bowling hand.
Wood was instantly ordered by the umpire to remove it as he might have feared that the pacer might use it to change the condition of the ball by scratching it. As the discussion was happening between Wood and the umpire, English skipper Jos Buttler and batter Liam Livingstone also joined in.
Watch: Umpire issues strict order to Mark Wood
โ Drizzyat12Kennyat8 (@45kennyat7PM) February 22, 2025
Meanwhile, Wood removed the star Aussie batter Steve Smith for 6-ball 5 in his next over to reduce Australia to 27/2.
The captain is gone, and Mark Wood delivers a crucial breakthrough!
England is now on top, putting Australia on the back foot. #ChampionsTrophyOnJioStar ๐ ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ, LIVE NOW on Star Sports 2, Sports 18-1 & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/R8aupTZOJN
โ Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 22, 2025
England entering Champions Trophy on the back of horror show in India
The Jos Buttler-led led England entered the ICC Champions Trophy on the back of an awful performance in a three-match ODI series in India, where they got whitewashed. In their last ODI match on February 12, in Ahmedabad, they suffered a heavy 142-run defeat.
England’s bowling attack was decimated by the Indian batters, and they posted 356 runs on the board as Shubman Gill (112), Shreyas Iyer (78), and Virat Kohli (52) played brilliant knocks.
Adil Rashid was the sole good performer with the ball for England as he finished with 4 for 64, including key wickets of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer. Mark Wood also did a decent job with his spell of 2/45.
Chasing a steep target of 357, England were bowled out for 214 in just 34.2 overs to end their India tour on a disappointing note. Their innings started quite well as they reached 126 for 2 in the 18th over.
However, the middle order failed miserably, and they lost the remaining eight wickets for just 88 runs. Tom Banton and Gus Atkinson were England’s top scorers, both making 38 runs. Ben Duckett contributed 34, while Joe Root managed 24 and the rest of the batters failed, resulting in a huge defeat. It was England’s 16th loss in 23 ODI matches since the 2023 World Cup.
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