‘I Have A Wife And Kids At Home’: Scared Kavem Hodge Told Mark Wood While Facing His 97 MPH Thunderbolts In 2nd Test

sanjeev

khelja|20-07-2024

West Indies cricketer Kavem Hodge admitted on Friday that he was scared for his life while facing England fast bowler Mark Wood in the ongoing second Test match at Trent Bridge.
  Wood bowled the fastest over by an English pacer in Test history with one of his 6 deliveries hitting 97.1 mph on the second day. It was the 42nd over which Hodge had to negotiate with the team in a challenging position at 140 for 3. Wood clocked 93.3mph, 95.7mph, 95.1mph, 92.1mph, 96.2mph and 94.8mph to bowl the fastest recorded over in England in Test history. Hodge ended up scoring 120 off 171 balls with 19 fours to his name. It was the 31-year-old's maiden century in international cricket which helped the West Indies reach 351 for 5 by stumps on Day 2, just 65 runs behind England's first innings total of 416. After the day's play, Hodge revealed how "brutal" it was to face Wood's pace during that over.  
  "It was brutal. It's not every day you rock up and you face someone that's bowling more than 90mph every single ball. "There was one point, I made a joke to him, I said: 'Hey, I have a wife and kids at home.' But I think that made the century a lot more satisfying. Test cricket is brutal, it's challenging, it's mentally draining. "To experience that, facing guys like Mark Wood, it was tough but it was satisfying," Hodge told reporters.  
But despite bowling with so much pace and venom, Wood went wicketless on Friday from his 14.1 overs. Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir bagged a couple of wickets while Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and captain Ben Stokes got one each. Wood was the only change England made to their playing XI in this Test, bringing him in for James Anderson, who retired from international cricket after the series opener at Lord's. England lead the 3-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test by an innings and 114 runs in London.