Mark Wood urges England to ‘fight fire with fire’ and hit back after Perth loss

Mark Wood has called for England to “fight fire with fire” and avoid being hit with a knockout blow in the Ashes.

The tourists are at a loose end in Perth, in the midst of three unscheduled days off after losing the series opener in double quick time.

Wood is the first player to put his head above the parapet since Travis Head’s brutal century wrapped things up on the second evening, appearing on former team-mate Stuart Broad’s For the Love of Cricket podcast.

The fast bowler offered some insights into how the team had taken their shattering defeat, revealing the mood was “flat”, but remains confident that they have the time and talent to turn things around.

“We’ve been hit pretty hard in round one but we’ve got other rounds to try and throw some back,” he told Broad.

“Ultimately we have to stick together because it’s about the end goal, not this one game. There has to be a reflection of what went on, to understand the disappointment, but also know we did some good things. Can we take them into the other four games? This is not one, it’s one of five.

“Australia will have confidence from that win. I know it’s only one guy who’s played particularly well but as a group that will give them a lift, winning that type of game. Their batters will be more confident – can one of them play an innings like that? So it’s up to us to fight fire with fire, come back in and try to knock them over again.”

England’s best moment of the game came late on day one, when a relentless barrage from the pace attack dismantled Australia’s first innings, and Wood sees that as a reason for optimism ahead what should be a bowler-friendly pink-ball game at the Gabba.

“I definitely feel we’ve got 20 wickets, certainly. The team has been designed to take 20 wickets in these conditions,” he said.

“As a group we can take a lot of confidence from that game. Being a day/night Test we know around night time it can zip around and if it can zip around at pace that can make it doubly difficult.”

Wood accepts his words will not soothe the disappointment of the thousands of English fans with unexpected time on their hands in Perth, as well as those watching with a wince from the United Kingdom, but he insists the squad share the pain.

“Emotions will be raw for everyone at home when you get close and start believing in the team and have that let down feeling,” he said.

“There’s nothing I can say on a podcast that will make people think, ‘oh they’ve solved it, I feel better now’. It’s gonna hurt and it should hurt for a few days, the players feel that as well.”

England suffered their second chastening defeat in 48 hours as Andrew Flintoff’s Lions team were beaten by a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill.

Like the Test team they were downed by eight wickets, with an opener striking a fourth-innings hundred. This time it was Josh Inglis who put them to the sword, strengthening his chances of a recall for the second Test with 125 not out against an attack boasting five players with international experience, including senior squad members Matthew Potts and Will Jacks.