Wood has been the fastest bowler on display at the World Cup
Both Mark Wood and Dawid Malan came through net sessions successfully at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as the pair strived to prove their fitness for Sunday’s final against Pakistan.Wood and Malan both missed out on the semi-final victory over India with hip and groin injuries respectively. England are determined to give the pair every chance to prove their fitness for the final, with the pair to be assessed on Sunday before a decision is made.”They’re both improving,” captain Jos Buttler said. “Of course it’s not too many days since not being fit enough for the semi-final, but again, we’ll give them every chance possible.”England selected an unchanged XI throughout the group stage, before the injuries to Wood and Malan forced them to change their side against India.Wood has been the fastest bowler on display at the World Cup, with an average speed of 92mph. His pace would be a particular asset, given Pakistan’s relative weakness against speed and the large square boundaries at the MCG – which make it far harder for batsmen to cut and pull boundaries.
Malan, who was replaced by Phil Salt against India, is highly valued for his adaptability for England in T20 cricket. Pakistan’s main spin pair, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, are a leg-spinner and left-arm spinner – Malan has a strong record against both as well as high pace, which Pakistan also have in abundance.
Buttler said that, by winning their third men’s World Cup in history – to go with the T20 World Cup triumph in 2010 and 2019 ODI World Cup victory – England hoped to inspire the nation ahead of the football World Cup, especially with the game broadcast live on free-to-air TV.”Sport is such a huge part of English culture, and getting behind teams in World Cups is certainly something I know happens a lot in England,” Buttler said.”Even though we’re on the other side of the world, you can certainly feel that support. The images you see of the Euros, obviously, nothing will compete with football in our country, but the level of interest, of course the game is going to be on free-to-air television as well which is fantastic, will bring new eyes to the game.”We saw the benefit of that in 2019 with some of the images of people watching that game and Trafalgar Square being packed out and stuff. I’m not sure they’ll be getting up at 8:00 in the morning to get to Trafalgar Square, but I am sure there will be plenty back home wishing us well.”Buttler said that lifting a World Cup as skipper would be a dream, and urged England to embrace the occasion at the MCG.”I’ve certainly had a few dreams about that kind of thing, and of course I think it really links back to what you were like as a kid really – the kind of things you would be doing in the garden with your brother and sister, pretending to lift a trophy,” he said. “Now to be able to have the opportunity to have a chance to live that kind of thing out is incredibly special.”I think it’s fine to sort of think about those things and sort of what it might feel like or what it would mean. They’re certainly feelings I don’t feel like I need to try and block out or push away. You almost accept those kind of things as like accepting the noise that comes with a World Cup final, accepting that it feels a little bit different. Again, the room is fuller than it has been for any other game, obviously. Don’t need to try and push it away and say it’s no different tomorrow. Of course it is.”But once you’ve accepted those things, again, it’s about focusing on the things that you know will serve us well as a group and as a team, as an individual what you need to do to prepare to play your best game of cricket.”England won a tense T20 series in Pakistan 4-3 in September and October, and Buttler hailed the strength of Pakistan’s side.”We know we’re up against an excellent team. That’s exactly what you expect in a World Cup final, and we’ll focus on them a little bit and focus on us a lot and what we need to do to prepare well today to turn up tomorrow and give the best account of ourselves.”I think they have a very long history of producing excellent fast bowlers, and I see the team that we’re up against as no different. I’m sure by the end of their careers, some of the guys who we’ll play against will go down as some of the best bowlers Pakistan have produced. That’s a huge part of why they get to a World Cup final.”They’re a team we’ve seen lots of in the recent past, and we’ve had some brilliant matches against them, played in a fantastic spirit, and I’m sure tomorrow will be no different.”
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