Mark Wood watches the haka, hails England’s death bowling, and chats about the side’s Liverpool-like front three…
We arrived at Dunedin Airport to the sight of a haka group performing for us – maybe we could have broken out in Jerusalem Barmy Army-style to say thanks!
There’d been a little mention of something happening the day before we flew but I didn’t expect anything like that – it was an amazing experience and something we are not used to. It was great for us to be welcomed like that and the lads managed to get some fantastic videos, myself included.
The son of Mark Saxby, our masseur, definitely has the most rhythm in our party – he can only be about two or three but he was busting Michael Jackson moves at breakfast recently with his light-up shoes on!
Nasser Hussain was complimentary about Eoin Morgan’s captaincy after our win in the third ODI on Saturday and Morgs really is great to play for – he gives us so much freedom, confidence and calmness.
You have an idea in your head of what you want to do and nine times out of 10 he will back your idea but if he doesn’t quite agree he will say ‘What do you think about this?’ – he will suggest things rather than tell you what to do.
His body language on the field is excellent and he always gives the team confidence – his philosophy is always to look for wickets rather than be defensive and everyone buys into the way he wants to play.
I think we did a fantastic job to keep New Zealand to such a low score as the pitch didn’t have the same up-and-down movement for our seamers as it did when they bowled – perhaps the dew changed things.
It showed great bottle from us to seal the win and that will give us confidence going into world tournaments, knowing that we have the skills and players to get over the line.
I thought TC [Tom Curran] bowled a brilliant penultimate over to concede only seven runs and set Woakesy up for the last – Woakesy, who has done it before, then did it again. He is someone the captain knows he can trust.
Chris Woakes explains why mind games come into bowling at the death in white-ball cricket.
I was disappointed not to be thrown the ball in the final overs – you always want to be the guy to win the game for England – but I’m not too down about it because the main thing is the team winning.
TC and Woakesy are so good at that point, while we also have Stokesy – I know he had trouble in that World T20 final in 2016 but I still think he has great death-bowling ability.
We practise that element of the game – yorkers, slower balls – so much nowadays that I would have backed anyone of us to see the team over the line. If it’s me next time, the other lads will back me up.
New Zealand vs England
March 6, 2018, 9:30pm
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I thought I bowled all right at the start in Wellington after missing the first two matches – I could have had a nick to second slip, while a bouncer went just over the ‘keeper and short fine leg.
If they went my way, it would have been two-for against my name but hopefully I can now get wickets in the next game.
It was also nice to see Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali bowling well in tandem – they really gave us the edge by dismissing New Zealand’s middle order.
Rash has been crucial for us over the last two or three years spinning the ball both ways and there were times when I was fielding the other day when I thought he would get a wicket every ball.
Mo is a great team man, everyone wants him to do well, and it was great for him to get some key wickets – those two really changed the game for us at 80-1 to give us momentum.
Mo and Rash are the best of friends, they go everywhere together – they’ve even taken to wearing the same clothes! Rash might think differently but Mo is definitely the boss!
They form part of our front three in football, alongside Jos Buttler, and that trio is clicking like an absolute dream at the moment. As a big Liverpool supporter, Mo would like to think they are our Salah, Mane and Firmino!
We were also pleased with our batting at the weekend.
I think it was one of the Twenty20 games where we went too hard with the bat on a difficult surface, so what the coaching staff have talked about is assessing conditions as a side and adapting.
Watch how Ben Stokes' bat was chipped by New Zealand medium-pacer Colin de Grandhomme
We are all searching for that perfect game where we whack 400 on a good batting track but that’s not always going to happen and it’s almost more satisfying to dig out a win like we did on Saturday, when it was hard going.
Morgs and Stokesy’s partnership was crucial to get us up to 234 – the lads said it was hard to get started on that wicket and if Stokesy is struggling to naturally time the ball, you know it’s not plain sailing.
To win a game of cricket like that is a real boost for us going forward – we want to be the complete team and win whatever the conditions and situation.
England will wrap up the series with a win in the fourth ODI in Dunedin. Watch that match live from 9.30pm on Tuesday on Sky Sports Cricket.
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