Mark Wood relieved after adding wicket to toil and endeavour

Until pinning Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal in front just after reaching a half century, Wood was still searching for his first wicket of the series

Mark Wood admitted his relief after taking the wicket of Dinesh Chandimal during the final session of the opening day of the second Test.

Until pinning Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain in front just after reaching a half century, Wood was still searching for his first success of the series.

The Durham fast bowler bowled 27 overs without reward during England’s seven-wicket victory in the first match and it had been rumoured in recent days that he might be rested to manage his workload and protect his body, with Olly Stone lined up to fill his void.

However, following the news that Wood – along with Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow – will miss the first two Tests of the India tour and instead return home for a block recuperation period, he and Curran both lined up alongside James Anderson, who replaced Stuart Broad in England’s only change.

It was Anderson who did the early damage, enticing a poor shot from Kusal Perera, who edged to slip in the fifth over. Oshada Fernando, drafted into the home side to replace the luckless Kusal Mendis, fell four balls later – also to Anderson. And it was Test cricket’s most successful seamer who struck the third blow in the first over after lunch, with Lahiru Thirimanne edging to Buttler – the eighth time in Tests that the left-hander has lost his wicket to Anderson.

But as England tired on a hot, humid afternoon in Galle, Wood’s moment finally arrived, breaking a 117-run stand between Chandimal and Angelo Mathews in the process.

^{Wood bowled his heart out during an eight-over spell}

“A lot of relief,” he said of the feeling. “I felt that I bowled decently in the first game and I bowled a good spell in this game and just thought it’s never going to happen.

“I was making a joke to Jon Lewis, the bowling coach, that he could be here in 2054 and I’d still be bowling from that Fort End and not have a wicket and be 0 for 3,000! It’s nice to have one-fer, so it might just be 1 for 3,000 now from the Fort End!”

By the time his wicket came – from his 234th ball of the series, he had struck Chandimal on the helmet with a fierce bouncer and was regularly clocking speeds upwards of 90mph on a docile, slow surface.

He said: “I was maybe putting a bit too much pressure on myself because when you’re in and out of the side and you’re trying to cement your place and you know that there are people behind you and people in front of you who aren’t here, I didn’t play much during the summer, so I wanted to try and make an impact.

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“But then you leave the [first] game with no wickets; you feel a little bit under pressure, so it’s nice to get one on the board. I know it’s not match-winning or a five-fer, so I still have a way to go. But it is a bit of a relief that I can relax into the game knowing that I’ve contributed.”

Mathews, who ended the day unbeaten on 107, praised England’s bowlers. “The wicket was flat,” he said. “They gave nothing away to us – they set a field where we couldn’t score easily and even the faster bowlers bowled some really good lines and lengths.”

Wood formed a significant part of those plans, especially in the period shortly before the new ball. Despite the crippling heat, he managed to eke out a hostile spell of eight overs, leaving him understandably “knackered”.

^{Wood's wicket was his first of the series}

“It was hard work,” he said, “but I had the conversation with Rooty: I wasn’t going to come back with the new ball, so rather than bowl three overs in that spell and try to come back for three overs, it was probably reversing a little bit and that time was going to be when I was most threatening.

“It was either: come back or keep going and not have to come back. I just thought: ‘Let’s just keep going and see if we can make something happen.’”

For Wood, there is a break from action on the horizon in four days’ time, though he will re-join the Test squad in India for the second half of the series and the tour’s subsequent white-ball leg.

The decision to ensure that all multiformat players are given some time off in the post-Christmas schedule is favoured by the seamer, who was an unused member of the travelling party when England faced South Africa in November.

“I think it’s the right decision,” he said. “Obviously, you want to play as much as you can but with Covid bubbles and things like that, I think it’s the right decision to allow players to mentally get away from it, get back and see families.

“Usually, on tour there’s a little section based for getting family out here and stuff. If you’re away from January 2 to March 20 for the whole tour for the multiformat players, that’s a long time to go without seeing your family, especially in these tough times. It’s good that they’re breaking up for people and allowing them to refresh. When they come back, they’re back into it and raring to go.”

^{Images: SLC}