Follow UsEngland speedster Mark Wood will be seen in an altogether different avatar, donning the hat of assistant coach for a select County XI that will face Zimbabwe for a four-day tour game that will be played between May 15 and 18 at Grace Road in Leicester. This will be a practice game for the visitors before they take on England in a four-day Test.
Wood, who is currently recovering from an injury, will be an assistant to England Lions’ head coach, legendary all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. The duo of Wood and Flintoff will be accompanied by one of England Women’s best brand ambassadors, Sarah Taylor, a former wicketkeeper-batter, who retired early, having scored 4056 runs in 126 WODIs at an average of 38 between 2006 and 2019.
Along with Wood, Flintoff and Taylor, former South Africa international Neil McKenzie and Englishmen Mike Yardy and Neil Killeen will also be part of the coaching staff.
The select XI side includes Josh De Caires, son of former England cricketer Mike Atherton, as skipper. Other than De Caires, Dan Mousely, Jafer Chohan, Luc Benkenstein and Thomas Rew are some of the known faces in the 13-man squad.
Wood, who will continue in the role of assistant coach during the India A vs England Lions, two four-day games, said he wanted "to see if I'm a natural, to see if I'm any good, and if I enjoy it".
Select County XI Squad: Josh De Caires (capt), Archie Bailey, Luc Benkenstein, Jafer Chohan, Ben Dawkins, Alex Green, Eddie Jack, Mitch Killeen, Ben Mayes, Seb Morgan, Dan Mousley, Thomas Rew, Jamal Richards.