Mark Wood admits England needed 'kick up the bum' after Adelaide thrashing
England were given "a kick up the bum" by Chris Silverwood, the head coach, in a post-match debrief after their 275-run defeat at Adelaide Oval, according to Mark Wood, who is set to return to the side for the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Joe Root was critical of his seamers post-match, suggesting that they "weren't brave enough, at times, to get the ball up there and get them driving" and his comments were backed up by Silverwood on Tuesday.
But reports have subsequently suggested that the batting group came in for heavy criticism during a dressing-room meeting in which several players were made to watch their dismissals on video.
Wood said that there was no tension between England's batters and bowlers, insisting that the squad are "all in it together" and "desperate to play better than we are".
"We probably needed it - a brutally honest discussion at the end of the game in the dressing room" Wood said on Wednesday. "Chris Silverwood spoke and put some footage up. Stokesy [Ben Stokes] and Rooty spoke honestly to the group about things we felt weren't going well and what we'd do better.
"It was a conversation that isn't usual for us. It was a kick up the bum to say: 'look, we are 2-0 down now, and the same mistakes keep on happening'. It was a good discussion. As a bowling group we can always get better - I just feel like with the batting, as we discussed in the meeting, these heavy collapses we keep having is what's costing us Test matches.
"It doesn't feel like it's a batters v bowlers thing, with all the batters in one corner giving snidey talk about the bowlers, and all the bowlers in the other corner snidey-talking about the batters. It's not like that. We're just desperate to play better than we are. We're all in it together but we're coming under a bit of fire at the minute for batting and bowling, because we're getting soundly beaten."
Wood took 3 for 85 in Australia's first innings in the first Test at the Gabba, regularly passing 90mph/145kph and taking the key wicket of Steven Smith, but was a surprise omission from an England attack that lacked variety at Adelaide.
He looks certain to return to the side at the MCG, with Chris Woakes likely to miss out after taking three wickets at 76 apiece across the first two Tests, and Wood stressed that he is keen to lose the "stigma" of injury, insisting that his fitness work in recent years means he should be available for back-to-back Tests if required in the rest of the series.
"I have managed to play back-to-back tests in the last couple of years," he said. "It's something I've worked hard at with my fitness. Obviously the times where I've broken down, I've tried my best to make them less and less [common].
"I was ready to go if required for this game [the second Test] but the decision was made that I would be left out and I accept that. That was the decision made for this game. Selections are constantly made throughout the tour about what's best for the team, whatever that might be, so there was no set plan.
"I've tried to get that sort of stigma away from me where I can't play back-to-back games. I'm trying to get away from that. Five Tests in a row, I don't know if I could have stood up to that. But I was certainly going to try if selected, and it will be the same with the last three games. Hopefully my body holds up - it's a constant conversation with physio, doctor, head coach and captain, trying to minimise risk.
"If I do get the nod in Melbourne, that's something you can say is special in your life and I can tell my son one day that I got up in front of that many people on a massive sporting occasion with everything on the line. If that's the case then I'll give everything I've got, 100%, charging in to try to get us the right result to get us back in the Ashes."