Mark Wood hopeful that Tymal Mills partnership can flourish at T20 World Cup

With Jofra Archer out for the rest of the year with an elbow injury, it has fallen on Mills – recalled by England for the first time in four years – to take on the mantle of his Sussex teammate as Wood's partner in crime

Mark Wood’s partnership with Jofra Archer in white-ball cricket has given him the confidence that he and Tymal Mills can have a similar impact in tandem.

Wood and Archer have regularly spoken since coming together in the 5-over World Cup in 2019 about relishing the friendly rivalry of their internal pace race.

But with Archer out for the rest of the year with an elbow injury, it has fallen on Mills – recalled by England for the first time in four years – to take on the mantle of his Sussex teammate.

“Jofra certainly helped me in the 50-over World Cup,” said Wood, eight days out from the start of England’s involvement in the T20 World Cup. “It would have been brilliant to have him here; he will be a huge miss just because of the quality that he brings in T20. He can put you on the back foot right from ball one.

“It’s up to me and Tymal to carry that forward. It’s nice that me and Jofra played together and proved that you can have two fast men in a side and not just one, so hopefully me and Tymal can get a game or two together in the competition.”

During England’s five-match T20I series against India in March, the Archer-Wood axis was pivotal in both wins for the tourists, only once being dominated when the hosts finished 224 for 2 in the decider.

It is why Wood is unconvinced of the idea that he and Mills are competing for a single spot, especially with Sam Curran also missing the tournament with a back problem.

Here's what it looks like having Mark Wood run in to bowl at you...

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On his own fitness, Wood – whose previous troubles are well known – is confident in his body. With Archer and Olly Stone both out of the Ashes, which follows this first assignment, Wood is England’s last man standing – “I’m like the last dragon on Game of Thrones, aren’t I?” he jokes – ahead of a Test tour for which England had long planned on travelling with a battery of speedsters.

“My injury history would suggest that I’ll probably need a rest,” he said of whether he could manage all five Tests, “but I feel good and I’ve backed up games in the last two or three years. I feel in a physically better place in terms of being able to do that for longer periods. If I’m looked after well and I’m bowling well, then hopefully that will be the case.

“As is the case with my career in the last year, it has been a discussion with the coach and the physios about how my body is feeling: I want to be bowling at 90mph and having that snap and that pace and that threat. If that’s not there, then maybe I need to take a backward step and come back again when I’m firing. But throughout the summer, I felt in a good place.”

He has played just one competitive game – against in the Test against India at Lord’s – since the start of July, but his displays in recent T20Is give plenty of reason to be cheerful. He opted out of this year’s Indian Premier League auction but bowled with such ferocity in Ahmedabad earlier this year that his name will surely come up in conversations among franchises ahead of the upcoming mega-auction.

World Cup conditions will present a different challenge, however. “In Sharjah, you might have to bowl differently to in Dubai,” he said. “It’s not just the wickets, it’s the dimensions of the field: Sharjah is quite small, Abu Dhabi is obviously wider. The thing you have to do is adapt within the game.

“We’ve had a good build-up here: scenario practices, practising super overs, practising single-ball events where batters need a six, batters need a four, batters need two, batters need one, practising powerplay overs. It has been a bit more specific than just nets or fielding, so it has been good. We’ve got two practice games against India and New Zealand, and then we’re into it.”

On the evidence of the second leg of the IPL, pitches are likely to be low, slow and spin-friendly. That, though, might just make Wood even more important to England, given the ability of his raw pace to remove the surface from the equation. He has watched South Africa’s Anrich Nortje in action for Delhi Capitals and admired the way in which he has gone about his work. “If I can bowl like he has, then I’m sure I can have success,” Wood added.

“I still think I can contribute – it might not be in the wickets column, but in keeping it tight for the lads at the other end. If it is a spinner’s track, my role might be to keep it down as much as I can so the spinners can attack. But these are top players in any conditions; if we are slightly off, they’ll punish you, so we have to be on it.”

For the first time ever, an England men’s team heads into a T20 World Cup as the holder of its 50-over equivalent, with the chance to complete a historic double for a team that has changed the country’s thinking towards white-ball cricket.

“I’d absolutely love it,” said Wood. “I think we’ve got a huge chance. We’ve got a great team. Everybody talks about it being four years for the cycle of the next World Cup, but I still feel like we’re in that cycle – there are very similar players from the 50-over team to the T20. Whoever has come in is quickly getting the team ethos and values. I feel like we’ve got a good time now to really cement something pretty special.

“This T20 World Cup and then another one and then another 50-over World Cup, I really feel like we’ve got a group of players who are all similar ages and all playing good cricket. Hopefully in these world competitions, we could take home another trophy, which would be unbelievable for the country.”