England captain Alastair Cook said on 5 August that he is hopeful seamer Mark Wood will be fit to play in the fourth Ashes test at Trent Bridge. England go into Thursdays fourth test in Nottingham on a high after their crushing eight wicket triumph at Edgbaston last week put the hosts 2-1 up with two matches to play.
It looks really good for Woody, he seems to have come through training pretty good, last check in the morning, weve got everyone to select from, Cook said. I thought he bowled really well at Cardiff, he didnt quite get it right at Lords and hes looked fit, ready, everything hes been asked to do hes come through with flying colours, so hes really excited with the opportunity hes got.
The hosts took a 2-1 series lead on Friday with two matches to play after crushing Australia by eight wickets in the third test at Edgbaston.
Its been a brilliant series, slightly strange because of the topsy-turvy nature of the results. To be part of it, the atmosphere at Edgbaston was just fantastic, it was a real great three days to be part of game. We did get on top but it still ebbed and flowed, to win like we did, to knock off 120 runs the crowd there at the end was just brilliant.
As a group of players to experience that, we were talking in the dressing room saying how much we enjoyed it, but we kind of earned the right to get the crowd on our side and hopefully we can do the same this week, Trent Bridge is another good ground for us and hopefully the crowd can be the 12th Man, Cook told reporters.
One concern for England has been the form of opening batsman Adam Lyth, but Cook said he felt his opening partner was finding his form
He hasnt scored the runs he would like to have scored, he knows that but I thought in that last game he looked a lot more solid and he looked like his method was sorted out. He didnt quite get the runs but I do believe theres a big score round the corner.
I think its the same for any of the group now because of where the series is poised at 2-1 theres another opportunity for someone to really make a name for themselves in the history of English cricket.
Since drawing with the West Indies in Antigua, England have followed up every test victory with a defeat, something Cook hopes they can change. He said: Weve been consistently inconsistent over the last seven games, can we turn that around this time.
No one gave us a chance at the beginning of the series, everyone was writing us off and thats a dangerous place to be. I think 2-1 sounds a great position to be in, its better than 2-1 down, but theres a lot of cricket to play. So weve got to focus on us, not look at the end of these five days, focus on that first hour tomorrow morning.
