Why is Mark Wood not playing today’s ICC T20 World Cup match between England and West Indies?

Mark Wood not playing: England have left out a tried and tested fast bowler for their ICC T20 World Cup 2021 opening match.

During the 14th match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between England and West Indies in Dubai, England captain Eoin Morgan has won the toss and chose to field.

“We will bowl first. Short side one side. Tymal Mills is playing. We get balance with Liam [Livingstone] and Moeen [Ali], so gives us three seamers too,” Morgan said at the toss.

Good luck to @Eoin16 and the @englandcricket lads, what a great opportunity to win back2back world cups. Come on lads

— Liam Plunkett (@Liam628) October 23, 2021

Defending champions West Indies captain Kieron Pollard remained unaffected by being asked to bat first in their 2021 T20 World Cup opener despite himself wanting to bowl first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

“Not really a blow. Toss is 50-50. We would have bowled. [Andre] Russell is fit. First World Cup for [Nicholas] Pooran and [Obed] McCoy. With the combination of our team, we do not depend on Russell bowling 4 overs every game. Chris Gayle, legend for us. Looking forward to what we can do as a team more than individuals,” Pollard said at the toss.

Why is Mark Wood not playing vs West Indies?

England’s Playing XI means that fast bowler Mills will be making his international comeback after three years. Mills’ inclusion also means that the fast bowling-trio of Mark Wood, Tom Curran and David Willey won’t be taking the field tonight.

“[Mark] Wood and [Tom] Curran needed a bit more time to recover after the injuries in the warm-up games. Obviously missing those all-rounders who aren’t here with us,” Morgan added. While Wood had bowled six overs across a couple of warm-up matches, Curran wasn’t tried by Morgan in either of the two matches.

ENG Playing 11 – 1) Jason Roy 2) Jos Buttler (wk) 3) Dawid Malan 4) Jonny Bairstow 5) Liam Livingstone 6) Eoin Morgan (c) 7) Moeen Ali 8) Chris Woakes 9) Chris Jordan 10) Adil Rashid 11) Tymal Mills

WI Playing 11 – 1) Evin Lewis 2) Lendl Simmons 3) Chris Gayle 4) Nicholas Pooran (wk) 5) Shimron Hetmyer 6) Kieron Pollard (c) 7) Andre Russell 8) Dwayne Bravo 9) Akeal Hosein 10) Ravi Rampaul 11) Obed McCoy

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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