Strategic Timeout: Mark Wood on the IPL, England & the pressure of playing

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Oh, I think I was doing a 15, and then what he's doing, 15, is very very different.

Very surprised if he's not sort of involved or even selected for the next T20.

I don't want that because against England. Oh yeah, so let's just hold fire a little bit. And then there was a problem with politics with something to do with the farms and the water, so there was threatening on releasing snakes into the stadium while I was there.

The only way I can describe this, if you've got a sweet tooth, you'll absolutely love it.

Obviously everyone likes to see balls flying about here and there, but when it happens all the time, it's sort of the novelty sort of wears off a bit.

All good? Ready to go? Hello and welcome to another episode of Strategic Timeout with me, Amba Sandhu, the place where we chat all things IPL 2026. Now we're officially at the halfway point of the competition, which is very exciting. We've had some unbelievable innings, some ridiculous run chases, and some fantastic individual performances as well. Luckily for me though, I've got quite an elite northern lineup to unpick it all. I've got England's fastest bowler. Did you know he can bowl faster than a cheetah? It's Mark Wood.

Hello.

Hello. And somebody who's probably got the deception of a cheetah.

England's second fastest bowler as well, actually.

Said no one ever. Got the deception of a cheetah from his time on the traitors. Everyone's favourite faithful for us. Welcome back.

Oi, how are you, Amber?

Right, I've got a bone to pick with you because I saw he was looking quite smart and fancy on the red carpet on Monday. Three-piece suit. Yeah, where's the suit?

I can't be rocking up three-piece suit here, you know what I mean? It sort of kills that sort of like nice informal vibe, don't it? If I'm rocking up with my brogues on and that, I think it might put Mark like, might get a bit nervous.

Could have come in his whites then, couldn't he?

Yeah, we should have all come in our whites. Good week though, how are we both?

Yeah, it's all good, all good. But I want to know about the main man in the middle here.

Yeah. How are you? It's lovely to have you on. Delighted to have you on.

It's great to be on. Things are going well. Slow, very slow progress. I've been at Loughborough for a few days training and then on the way home, managed to pop up here and say hello to you guys. So I'm pleased to be here.

Well, there's lots to talk about. We're halfway through it. How much have you had a chance to watch it, Mark? And what has stuck out for you both?

The scores. I kind of believe how in past competitions you've sort of been like, this bowler's got, you know, won over this guy, or they give the big sort of inverted words of, uh, oh, this matchup is good for this sort of team. There seems to be none of that now. I mean, these young lads from India come out and they just take everybody on. And, um, it's been from one extreme to the other, hasn't it? You think high scores all the time, and then RCB come out and have a team 6 wickets down for about 10 runs. So it's just come out of nowhere, really. I think India is such a hard place for a fast bowler to go. The The grounds are small, the pitches are true, and they've got a depth of batting there that I think is like nowhere else in the world. So this year's IPL, slightly different in the fact that, you know, there was a mega auction. You start to get new teams, new formations and new strategies and cliques of teams and what's going to work. And I think some have been surprising. I didn't expect Chennai to struggle as much. I would say before they were big favorites, I think, before the competition. I think KKR as well, you know, with Bravo at the helm, you're thinking they're going to be right up there, experience. So I've been surprised by some of the results, to tell you the truth, and I think overall the scores have been probably the standout thing.

Can we talk about Delhi? Because on Saturday they've put up 274 against Punjab, by the way, they chased it down with an over to spare, and then getting bowled out— you mentioned it briefly there— bowled out for 75 against RCB.

I think it's ridiculous to see like that, being like 8 for 6 at the that level of cricket is absolutely unbelievable. Like, you just don't see it happen at all. That really has been the black sheep of the tournament. And when you've got such high scores like that and then you go from 86, it's sort of— how would you sort of take that mindset into the next game when you've been rolled over for so little? Like, sort of, what would you say if you've been rolled over for so little? What would you sort of go into the next game, or what would that chat in the changes be like?

I think it would be very much like sort of just forget this game. I don't think it would be like a a telling off from the coach where this wasn't good enough. I think you just sort of scratch that and say that's a one-off. We've obviously blasted it the week before. This week we— I think if you look, if you looked at the dismissals, Kyle Rahul, who's a classy player, first ball he's trying to pull Josh Hazlewood. I mean, that was slightly out of character. Maybe off the back of his 170 or whatever it was, he felt, oh, I'm in such good form, I can still carry this on. And yeah, I just think Hazlewood is— he very rarely misses. Kumar, who you've seen, Bhuvi, over the years, he very rarely misses. So you're coming against two of the best seam bowling performers that you could come up against. And maybe it's just one of those days where you nick everything, and you have all the days where you edge it for 4. Yeah, then they get away, and it has a different feeling. But I agree with you, it makes me feel good as a bowler to say that actually we can get a couple back somewhere.

Someone we've spoken about a lot, and I feel like every episode we keep saying the same thing, but Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

Would you want to bowl against him? No, I wouldn't. I've looked at the highlights a lot and I still don't know where I think his weakness is, which is the frightening bit.

Do we believe he's 15, by the way? Because I refuse. A 36-ball century, you take it.

He's definitely 15. Like, look at his face. Like, he has got a proper baby face, you know what I mean?

He doesn't bat like a 15-year-old.

Oh yeah, no chance.

It hurts me though, because I think I was doing at 15, and then what he's doing at 15 is very, very different.

Imagine him being in like your under-15 side.

Everybody want to be swapping bats.

The reason I mentioned him, big win for Rajasthan, they beat Punjab yesterday, but also that 36-ball century as well. He's just unbelievable.

Yeah, he's honestly class. But you know what I took from yesterday as well? He got them off to a great start and then Jaiswal sort of gone under the radar, he sort of carried that start on for him. So it was good to see the Royals because their middle order hasn't really nicked in. So Jaiswal carried that start on, then you had the likes of Ferreira, Parag chipped in as well. So it was good to see them shooting on all forms and taking Punjab on. But yeah, as you say, he's a ridiculous—

I mean, the scary thing is, is that he hasn't played for India. I mean, that is, that's the frightening thing when you think of their superstars throughout the lineup. You know, you think of Rohit Kohli over the years, and these are like the biggest of the big, and this guy has been touted to— that's his trajectory in his path. And you've seen it already. Was he youngest to 1,000?

And yeah, youngest to 1,000 T20 runs.

So I mean, the sky's the limit. I mean, his ceiling must be so high. You don't— you wouldn't think at the minute like, oh, this is his peak at 15. You're thinking, how much further can he go? Because he hasn't even gone on the international stage yet. And that, that's the frightening thing, is that, you know, it's— IPL gives you that pressure cooker where you're against the best players, you must win games because, yeah, you know, you've gone from— there's a price tag on your back, there's then the media hype around you, and then people get to see you. So all of a sudden you're in this pressure cooker, and international cricket is exactly the same. And if he's handling it at this level, there's no reason why he shouldn't or he couldn't handle it at international level. And that's the frightening thing, is that he's 15, handling it here, and we've not even seen him in India colours yet.

I'd be very surprised if he's not sort of involved or even selected for the next T20 tournament.

I don't want that because it's against England. Oh yeah. So let's just hold fire a little bit before he comes over here.

I think you might be seeing more of him. You might be seeing more of him.

Yeah, exactly.

That win for Rajasthan means it's very close now at the top. Punjab were undefeated, it's now a point between Punjab and RCB. Who's really stuck out for you so far?

Well, if I had to name a player, I'm gonna give an England player and say that Joffra in the powerplay has been sensational. Someone that come under a little bit of fire in the World Cup and things with people questioning after the Ashes, rightly so. We all get a bit of stick after Australia, but, you know, he's come back in this IPL, showed his class. I think the team, for me, if I had to pick a team rather than a player, it would be RCB from the simple fact that when you when you win that competition for that franchise with Coley being the, the superstar that he is, um, and that over the years they've had de Villiers, Chris Gayle, and you think of the superstars that they've had and they've never won it, and then to finally win it, it sort of releases that, um, pressure on your shoulders that the team has carried and the support the fan base which is huge has carried. So now I think they're almost on that sort of high in cloud nine where it's like this year can they do it again? And they've proven that, you know, they've released the shackles. Good planning, good coach, um, great backroom staff. And so Pipey, who was the physio there, he was the physio with me at Luke now, I know he's a great guy and done a lot in England. Andy Flower, um, who was there, you know, they've all done this planning and you can see that now. They look a proper side.

I want to get on to your IPL journey because it was quite up and down for you, um, But firstly, I want to ask how you're doing because obviously you've been suffering with an injury since the winter. How are you?

Yeah, so knee injury, one that probably been a year now of frustration. So I had the operation over a year ago, built myself back up for the Ashes, still wasn't quite right, I don't think, in Australia. I'd never really got to that point where I felt I could fly with it, but I've dealt with this before in my career. It's been slow going now trying to recover. The age that I'm at, you're probably looking at— I need to take it slow because realistically I maybe got one more chance of doing this right. Otherwise, if I rush it back and it's not good, then that could be it. So, um, still taking it slow, still trying to get back to bowling, hopefully later on in the summer at some point.

Has it been frustrating for you, Mark?

Mega, mega frustrating. I don't know if you can tell, but mega, mega frustrating.

You strike me— there might be a bit of impatience there.

You Yeah, because it's been a long time. Like I said, over a year since I had the initial surgery, then to build it back up for 7 months to play 1 game and then be out again, it takes its toll. So you want to get back as quick as you can. The age I'm at, I don't want to miss games. You see things like the IPL, you see things like England games, you want to be involved. So, you know, I was bowling quickly and well before this injury started, and I haven't managed to get back to that level.

So I know, I know it must be quite hard, obviously, to deal with them frustrations, but do you have anything like that you do yourself to help deal with them, or maybe any advice you'd give to others suffering through injury?

Yeah, I think, I mean, great question. I think the advice I would give is that you place yourself in the hands of the experts, aren't you? So we've got a great medical team, and the surgeon or specialist that I've seen has been great and give good advice. My family are fantastic, and, you know, I still go to my local cricket club, Ashington, in the Northeast, and, you know, that sort of family club sort of reels you back in a little bit. And I think that kind of atmosphere of having the experts who you have to listen to, align yourself with good family and friends, and, and just try and keep yourself busy. Like I say, we're on the podcast here. Um, I try to do a little bit of coaching in the winter with me, me young son, which was good fun. Um, and just, I think you've got to keep your eye on that, that prize, that focus at the end, which is ultimately for me trying to get back to play for England. So That's my focus. Laser on that and do what they say, be professional as I can and try and get back.

What have you been filling your time with then? You said coaching, spending time with the family as well. What else have you been?

So the All-Stars was a weekly thing every Friday. That was, that was the big one.

Every week. Shout out club cricket.

Yeah, yeah. So every Friday I had the kids at Ashington and that was good fun. Other things, just throw myself into family life really. I mean, being in the Northeast, I'm spoiled a little bit in the fact that we've got beaches around the corner with castles and you know, spending family time and just trying to pick off my gym work when I can. So yeah, a lot of family time, some friends stuff. And I mean, one of my favorite things that I did was I went to the live orchestra in Newcastle of Jurassic Park.

Oh, is it good that? It looks a beast, that. It's all like candlelit and that.

Yeah. So I went without my son who spent all the time looking at the film and I'm going, yeah, but the music. And he's like, no, no, dad, the dinosaurs. I'm like, fair enough.

Very wholesome. Very wholesome. Let's talk IPL then, because it was quite a whirlwind for you. 2018, you signed for Chennai, you play one game for them, and then you decide to travel back home to prioritize on Test cricket. That was the year they went on to win the title. So let's start with that. What was that like for you?

Um, I think I wasn't, I wasn't ready. When I, when I think back to what the IPL is, such a competition, like, until you first get involved in it, you can't really describe what it's like. It's chaos, noise, exposure, um, You know, I land in Mumbai and 3 days later I'm playing against Mumbai for Chennai in the biggest game in IPL. So everyone keeps telling us Mumbai versus Chennai, this is the biggest one. It's the El Clásico of, you know, IPL and all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, so yeah, I got smashed. I remember my first 2 overs, I think my first over went for 2, 2 overs down, I've got none for 10. So things are going okay.

Yeah, yeah.

And then I end with none for 48 or 50 or something like that. So I got smashed at the end of 2 Pandya brothers smashed me everywhere. So yeah, and to play under Dhoni was obviously something. I mean, I knew Stephen Fleming a little bit. I'd met him in New Zealand from England playing there, and I thought, I'm really excited for this opportunity. I knew what he wanted. He sort of laid out the plans and what he wanted me to do tactically. Dhoni, I couldn't believe how approachable he was. It's like this figurehead and this, you know, monster of a character, like you He would leave his door open on the hotel, so everybody would just walk in his room, talk football, sit and— I just couldn't believe how open and easy he was to get along with considering he's this huge superstar. And I wish things had gone better. Obviously, I played that one game. I didn't get back in, but there was a great camaraderie there that year. The team itself was excellent. Bravo, Doni, Reyna, and they had a clear way out. One of the strange things I remember actually was that we played in Chennai 2 games And then there was a problem with politics with something to do with the farms and the water. So there was threatening on releasing snakes into the stadium while I was there. So we had to leave Chennai and play in Pune.

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

So I remember that being a massive talking point around the time that we developed this squad that we're going to play on the spinning pitches of Chennai. And we left Chennai and went to Pune. Yeah, and Steve Fleming's desperately getting the groundsman, make the pitch like Chennai. He's like, I can't, it's totally different. But yeah, so, um, you know, Jageshwar, everybody was— it was an unbelievable team.

You know, you know, going back to that sort of, if you are struggling, you are getting carted about a bit as a bowler, especially in that atmosphere, what's sort of like going through your head at that time and how difficult is it to sort of stick to a plan?

Well, I was overwhelmed really when I think back now. Like, if you were to put me in that situation now, I think I'd be totally different. But that was my first game in the IPL, and I think mentally, probably, um, I was just sort of overawed by the whole occasion. And, um, you know, when you're with England, and I've been in them situations, you've got your pals next to you that you know, or, um, you know, that you've got clear plans. I mean, I went in that Chennai team and Billings and David Willey were there, but they weren't in the, in the game.

Yeah.

So I'm with all these 10 new players that I've never played with. You've got no hiding place. Mumba, the one K-Day, is unbelievably noisy, like especially when they're smashing it. I'm like, Donnie's the wicketkeeper, so he's a long way away. And he, when he, because he looks so calm, so he's, he, I'm getting smashed, he's just going and like just flanking where, like, we'll put him there, you just bowl that. And I'm like Right. Okay. And I haven't really got a clue what I'm doing. Whereas if I look back now, if I would do things differently now and, you know, if I had advice for people, it would be my mind was flying at a million miles an hour because everything was just, I guess, too much for us in that moment. But that's because I wasn't used to it. But then when you're exposed, if I did that maybe a couple of weeks later or two games later, it'd be totally different.

So you just say maybe like just to slow things down and slow things down, try and get a specific thing in your head.

Of what you were doing. Um, and actually, I think if I could do it again, I would have spoke to, say, um, Rihanna and pulled him and said, look, can we speak to Donnie and try and get a— because I was just— I would turn around and I would just bowl and come back and bowl. And when you're in that situation of just that ring of back ball, but it doesn't— it's not solving anything. Yeah, yeah, running in and then smacking you more. So to make me more tense, worse.

The TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

We've not had a bowler on so far on the program, Mark. So when we had David on, he was talking about the crowd noise, and when you're doing well, he said you can't hear it and it's just blocked out for him personally. When you're not doing so great, you hear it even more. So what was it like to play in front of those crowds? Have you experienced anything like it?

The loudest— I would still say the loudest I've ever played in front of. So we played at Chennai But this time I'm playing for Lucknow and I went back. Dhoni comes out to bat. There's all this social media coverage. I mean, when you go to the IPL, you have to do a lot of promotional work where it's like, I think Lucknow, the one I had to do was a crisp company called Tufani or Tufani or something else, a crisp company. And in the interview it's, so what do you think about MS Dhoni being past it? And if you're a fast bowler, he plays 80 mph well, but if you bowl 90 mph, do you think he'll struggle? So I am aware of this now going into this game. Dhoni comes out to bat, crowd's gone wild. I pitch the first one full and wide trying to get out his arc, and he hits me over cover for 6. So now the crowd are going ballistic. So I'm trying to speak to Kail Rahul, who's at mid-off, and we couldn't really hear each other very well. That's how loud it is, and he's only like 15 yards. So now I'm thinking, right, I've got two options. I can repeat this and we'll say, right, if he's done it once, can he do it twice? Or I go to something else. I'm thinking, right, I'll go to one of my strengths. I'm going to be aggressive. All the chat is that he can't play a fast ball, and I want to stay away from Yorkers because he plays that helicopter shot and that'll definitely go. So let's go pace on fast as I can at his head but get it wide. So again, it's out of his swing, so if he takes it on, I might get a chance of getting him out. So I'm thinking wicket, not restrict— okay, you know what I mean?

Okay, yep.

So bounce him next ball, and he hits me about 10 rows back. Oh! And honestly, that after that shot is the loudest I've ever heard in my career because the noise went from like ah to like it was like wow. Yeah, so kind of actually here it's like, it's like the acoustics are like, it's so loud that So I remember K.L. coming up with— I was like, we were like, we couldn't hear each other speak.

Yeah.

So it was just like all I heard him say was, "Whatever, woody." And I was like, "Yeah, yeah." I mean, still to this day, he probably doesn't know that, but I bluffed that I knew exactly what he said and I didn't have a clue. It was just so loud. That's the, that's the loudest easily. So to give you a sort of insight, that's, that's what it's like.

Donnie indirectly broke the sound barrier.

Yeah, he saw the crisp advert and he was like, let me show this guy. Yeah, this guy, I'm not past it.

Yeah. Chrisp's fault. I knew it. Someone to blame.

Um, you mentioned Look Now because you carried on your career with them. So 2022, unfortunately you got an elbow injury, didn't you? So you didn't play then, but 2023 you're back.

Yeah.

And you take 5 for 14.

Yeah.

For Look Now. How was that? And was that—

I mean, that was the best feeling because it was— I mean, that's one up there, one of the best things I've done in my career for me personally. Um, you know, England, fantastic. And I'd always say England was the pinnacle of anything I did, but for me personally to get the redemption and show people in India that I was good enough to be at that level. And, you know, 5 for 14 looks pretty good on paper as well. So as an English bowler, that'll always be there in the history books.

It's one of the best figures, by the way, for an English bowler in the IPL.

So that means a lot to me, and it improves that, you know, after a stint in Chennai where it was very disappointing and I didn't get to show people how good I was, to then go back and prove to people in a new franchise. I mean, a year late because of the injury, but the owner was Mr. Govanka, was fantastic, constantly in touch with me. And Lucknow was one of those where it was a fast wicket, so it helped me. It was a bit bigger ground, and I think that's why they picked me up. And Andy Flower was the coach there, so I knew him well, and it just seemed to align a bit. The fit was a bit better. As much as I love Chennai, I felt like as soon as I went in that Lucknow dressing room, I was probably a bit more of a character myself in terms of I'd done things for England. I believed in myself a little bit more, whereas when I first went to Chennai, I was a bit overawed by the occasion and these massive— I mean, Rian Adoni, I was a bit like, oh my God, like I'm a fan here. I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, a little bit, a little bit in a way. Yeah. So Lucknow, Kail Rahul was someone that I played a lot against India. He was the captain. So I felt much more, much more easier.

You know, when you say you sort of see England as the pinnacle, what would you sort of tell players how to balance maybe that franchise cricket and sort of international cricket, as we see like with Bethell now and different sort of views on him?

I would say that there is no pressure like the IPL. There's nothing like that can replicate in national cricket. The IPL is the one. That if, if times there'll be games that are more pressurized than some international games. Yeah. So that exposure can do nobody any harm. If you're preparing for a Test match in England in April, then it's maybe a different story when the ball's going to nip around. But actually, to better yourself as a cricketer and put yourself under pressure, there's no better place than, than the IPL. I think it's— it is the competition, you know. Big Bash, fantastic. PSL, fantastic. All great competitions, but I think the IPL, if you can do well there, the opportunity for you as a cricketer is through the roof. If you do well there, there's no doubt you're playing at National Cricket.

Yeah, yeah.

If you do well there, there's no doubt that you can earn yourself an absolute fortune. There's no doubt that if you do well there, that you can establish yourself on the main stage as a, as a top-end cricketer. You can make that name for yourself as, I am, I am the one to be here. You're not a bit-part player, you're not someone that's going to have a fleeting little bit and out.

If you establish yourself there, you know, you're a name in world cricket, aren't you?

Yeah.

And you know, obviously playing in the IPL, you play with, as you say, like the names in world cricket, the best players around the world. Who's someone that you played with or played against in the IPL in that situation where you've sort of took something from them and added it to your own game?

I think the biggest thing I can say is that I cannot believe what some of the Indian lads have to put up with. Honestly, the pressure and the fame is through the roof. Like, I don't think you can describe to people. So like in this country, for example, like a Stokes or Root are big names. If you go anywhere with them, especially if I'm not wrong with Stokesy, and we're on the street, someone, hi Ben, can I get a photo? Can I have an autograph? Yep, no problem. But in India, it's, it's like it's next level. I remember we went to the mall, me, Bravo, Billings, and one more, I can't remember. But so Bravo is the name that— bear in mind, he's not an Indian cricketer. Yeah, they shut the whole, whole mall down. We got locked inside of a, inside of a store because the crowd was that big and trying to push in that it was causing problems and safety issues. So they shut the whole mall, locked the store, they marched us out in like an armed police guard so that no one could get to us. And I was like, I just couldn't fathom how it was. And the Indian boys are like, why did you go to the mall? No, that's normal. Whereas to me, yeah, that is 100% not normal. Yeah. And couldn't believe it. And, you know, Bravo loved it and he was great. Everybody like waving, selfie, stuff. But I don't think people can really grasp what it's like for those guys, the pressure that they're under. I mean, there's things like the Dream 11 who, you know, guys online who are betting on them to do well. And if they don't do well, it like ruins the whole day. So the pressure on these guys and the price tag, the owners who expect— and we mentioned the opener there, the 15-year-old opener. If you are an established player, you have to perform, otherwise these guys behind you are in.

Yeah.

So the pressure on these lads, I don't think— that's what I took from it, is that no wonder India are a dominant force because they play in this competition and this is the pressure that they're taught. And if you can control that and harness it and still perform, you must be a pretty good player.

Yeah, ridiculous.

2023 was, I guess, the year that you got a real taste for it and you got to play a good chunk of cricket for Lucknow. You must have some stories, Mark. You must have got close with some of them, managed to have a bit of fun as well.

Well, I'll give you, I'll give you a story which wasn't fun. So I wasn't, I wasn't very well. Oh, I wasn't very well after about 5 games. I'd picked up an illness there. And the game was about 3 days' time.

Okay.

So every half an hour, the doctor who would stay back would be coming to my room, taking all my vitals, trying to get us right. And I remember like one day, the owner was ringing me and he was like, how are we feeling? Are we ready to go? I was like, honestly, I've eaten, drank nothing. I can't get out of bed still, but I'm hoping that, you know, if I can think. And he was like, well, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll get in another doctor. We'll give you this, we'll do that, we'll do that. So I've got like these 3 doctors now in my room giving me tablets, trying to help me. Next day, how are you feeling? This is the owner again. How are you feeling? Honestly, I'm still not good. I haven't had anything to eat. Well, I'll tell you what, I will send a private plane. You'll get on the plane, play the game, I'll get the plane straight back out and you can get back to your bedside. And I was like, I rang my dad and I was like, Dad, they're going to send a private plane. He was like, yeah, but how do you feel? I was like, honestly, like if I stand up, I feel like, you know, I'm not well. I could, you know, something could happen. And he was like, it was a private plane. I was like, you're right, Dad. You're right. I didn't go, but there was that split second where I was like, this is the coolest thing that's probably ever happened to me in my life. This is unbelievable.

Yeah. How ill am I to get on that private jet?

I mean, I could lie down on the private jet as well. I mean, this could be pretty special. So yeah.

Imagine how fuming you'd be if you went on the plane and then you turned up and you're like, yeah, no, I'm still not feeling it.

Or the coach, you're not playing today, we're just heading out to someone else.

Was there anyone in the squad that you became friends with?

I love Kyle Rahal. I love—

what is he like as a captain?

Um, uh, calm. Calm. Yeah, he comes across very good. Yeah, very good. Um, calm would be my first word. And, um, I think at times people maybe misunderstand him. I think he's tactically brilliant, um, understands the game, loves the game. And because he's quiet, sometimes I think people maybe think that, um, he's passionate, but his passion's right up there. I think he was a great captain and a great guy, um, very down to earth for a guy that's a superstar. Again, like we talked about, you know, you think that these superstars might be arrogant or divas, and he was none of that. He was honestly the most down-to-earth, lovely guy. Marcus Stoinis, I really enjoyed. He was, um, nicknamed the Hulk, and he had his own private chef there. I've never seen a guy eat so many boiled eggs in my life. Dan Sams was a lovely guy. Pardon me, I spent more time with the Aussies than anybody else, and which is very rare. That's rare, isn't it? Yeah, they were great guys. Um, and then the West Indies lads who were there, Pooran, Sheppy, uh, Romario Shepherd, never saw them. Just slept all day, relaxed, chilled out. They had that Caribbean relaxed nature. I mean, if this was the couch now, they'd have their arm back, probably asleep, and then they'd come out to bat and explosive. So And that was actually a really nice group. Look, now I really, really enjoyed that. And the guy who replaced me when I wasn't well was Naveen, Naveen Ul Haq. And he— I tell you what I was surprised with, he was one of the brightest blokes I've ever met in my life. He was super, super intelligent. I couldn't believe— like, he was— the way he thought about the game, the way he spoke about life. Very intelligent guy, lovely guy to be around. And he sat at the back of the bus for me a lot of the time, so We had a bit of a chat on most of the time.

This is what it's about, isn't it? These conversations, you get to know the players. You won't often play in a team with them as well, so it's quite a rare opportunity as well, isn't it?

I think I would encourage anybody to go. I mean, the first year I went, I went at my base price. I was lucky, look, now that I went for a little bit more money because I was bidding more. So I would encourage anyone, whether it's not just about the money but actually the experience. If you're an England cricketer and, you know, you're humming and hawing with the fact of, look, can I, can I get in the England team? I still think IPL helps you, helps you do that whether you go for lots of money or not. It's just, you know, if I was a young guy, no family and stuff, I think IPL is such an experience. I mean, you just have that literally one innings can change your life.

Can we also say that you did go for money though, didn't you?

Oh, absolutely.

Over 700,000, wasn't it? 724?

724.

Could you believe it?

Nope.

Did you love it?

Absolutely. Yeah.

Not a bad day's work, that.

It's not, is it?

Watch it with my wife. So we were watching, we were watching it on the with telly downstairs. My son was having a nap upstairs at the time, so we're trying not to wake him and go, yeah! It was, uh, it was pretty good.

We often talk about, and last week we spoke about, the flat pitches. And is it all just getting a bit predictable, the fact that 200 just seems like an average? But then you see, I know we saw 274 this week. How difficult is it to be a bowler? Because arguably that is the most difficult.

I would ask the question of probably you two is, what would you want to see if you, if you go to an IPL game would you want to see the ball getting smashed out the stadium and high scores and excitement that way? Or, you know, me as a traditionalist a little bit, I'd like to see a fair contest between both. But, you know, I'm one of, you know, thousands of people that could be in that stadium.

Yeah.

What do you want to see? Do you want to see the ball flying everywhere and that entertainment side? Because that's pretty fun if you're in the crowd and the ball spinning past the bat. Ooh, like that may be one ball, but if that's happening all the time, is it— is that as exciting to watch?

I always like that bit of needle low with low scoring games. Like, I always think going back to watching the Blast, like maybe 10, 15 years ago, when you're getting like 130s, 140s, 150s, and they're like really highly contested games.

But also when it comes down to the last over as well, like there's something in it. That's what I enjoy.

Yeah, really. So I really, I really do enjoy sort of the low scoring games. Obviously everyone likes to see balls flying about here and there, but when it happens all the time, it's sort of the novelty sort of wears off a bit. Saying that though, you're still getting a bit of needle in these games. It's just ridiculous to think that they're chasing down 220s, 230s, even seen 260s the other day. Yeah, but no, I think I do prefer sort of, as you say, like a bit more traditionalist where you're getting them battles, do you know what I mean? And you're having that bit more of a needle when them scores are a bit low scoring.

Oh yeah, I just want to see Mark Wood back bowling 97 overs per hour.

To be fair, I think if you're top, if you think the top bowlers in the world, you want to see them do well. So you want to see Bumrah, Rabada, Archer, all these guys. You want to see, look, can they knock over the best batsmen? And if there's no chance of them— like, if you're bowling a slower ball and it skids on, if you bowl a Yorker and you miss it by that much and they knock you out the ground, it comes a little bit like, well, these are the best bowlers, what chance have they got? Um, I mean, Bumrah's a little bit different, but the rest of them, you just think sometimes it doesn't feel like a fair contest all the time.

Personally, I just want to see Austump flying out the ground, but that's just me. Um, can I ask you, what is it like being England's fastest bowler? What is it like having that title?

It's, it's pretty cool. I don't think I'm always the fastest, but it's cool that sometimes that's been the case.

You're up there though, aren't you? Because Joffre's just— is it— you're 97?

Yeah.

Joffre's 96.

Yeah.

Has anyone beaten you yet?

Yeah, back in the day, Flintoff and Harmison, their top speed has been quicker than mine, but maybe not average, but their top speed. So I think Flintoff got one at 98, Harmison won at 98. And obviously Harmi's from the same hometown as me.

Yeah.

So he always has that like little—

something like that.

I can't get my head around how first you bowl that fast and second how you can even face that pace. Like it must be just ridiculous.

I can answer half of that. It's horrible to face that pace. I've managed to face a few quick lads. Stark, Johnson, Wahab Riaz was really quick. Bumrah's awful. So yeah, it's not nice. It's not nice.

Oh, like just that split, a split of a split second.

I've been holding that question for the whole episode, to be fair. I'm just— it's not often that we get such a fast bowler on the episode, one of our faves. We were saying off air, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Oh, Woakesy's me fave every day of the week. I think as well, when we mentioned IPL, so Woakesy, he had had his experience there when I was going there. I was tapping into him a little bit of what I can expect, and he's always been great and he's always easy to talk to. So even he couldn't prepare me for what that first game was going to be like in the 1 Katie. So yeah, at times it doesn't matter what people say, is it? You just got to, just got to go through the fire.

Right. There's no easy way to do the gear shift I'm about to do. However, me and producer Sal, shout out producer Sal, he works on the show. We were talking on WhatsApp in preparation for the episode about, you know, the IPL getting a bit samey samey. Is it too much of a good thing? Then we started talking about galab jamuns on WhatsApp. Do you know what a glarb jammin' is, Mark?

Only from the fact that we've talked about this before the show started.

We showed you some, didn't we?

Yes, it's like a— it looks like a bit like a dough ball.

Sugary ball.

Sugary ball, yes.

Well, we've bought you some, just an excuse to have them. This one's on his holiday diet, but you're gonna have to, aren't you?

Oh, I don't know, like—

Oh, could you have a bite?

If—

all right, okay, I'll have a bite. He's still a fearful.

All over it. So I Came from Birmingham today, bought them. They— the only way I can describe this, if you've got a sweet tooth, you'll absolutely love it.

Just truth, they're just power.

Is it gonna be too sickly though?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. Um, so we'll just show the camera. There we go, there's the galab jamuns. Might be the best episode we've done.

I've seen these in the, um, airport before.

Did you have any of these when you're out there?

I've never— so the only thing you have in IPL is big humongous cakes, really. So like, for example, when I got, um, the 5 wickets for Lucknow, if you get player of the match or you do something good, oh right, they get the cake and they mush the cake in your face. So like get like cake.

Is that a tradition?

And then if it's your birthday, cake in your hair and in your face as well.

Do you get to eat the cake or just—

it's a little bit of that and then you get to like— so it doesn't make sense really. Mash the cake up and then neatly slice it a bit for everybody else so you have the best of both worlds really. But yeah, it's quite a nice tradition that they do there. And some of the cakes they do are phenomenal. It's almost like a waste, like you'd pile into them.

I bet they're like wedding-sized cakes as well. I didn't know that.

So what, for us, if you and I grab one and we just smush it into a—

not too bad one.

Mark, you do the honors. Here you are. And then pass one to Fries. You're off on your holidays, aren't you? On the podcast, you're having one?

I love, I love a bite then.

I love a bite.

He's off tomorrow.

Are you—

what about you?

Yeah, yeah, I'm having one as well. I just want to see Mark's reaction though. So Mark's having his first collab. German thoughts?

Very sweet.

Yeah, we've got to save one.

They're nice, they're nice, but they're very sweet. I'm just gonna have one bite. And so, producer, I'm putting that back in. Yeah, be careful of that when you, when you pull them back.

Um, producer Sal wants to take the rest of those home. Come on, he's off to Marb's, Mark. He's off to Marb's.

Very, very sweet. Yeah, I thought very sweet.

They are power though, aren't they?

Those with ice cream, um, they're good, but they're very, very sweet.

I mean, that is Indian sweets though, like, yeah, yeah, they all are extremely sweet. So if you don't have a sweet tooth, they're probably not for you, but they are classic.

I feel like that before a ball, I'll be, I'll be on fire because you all hit the 100 miles per hour.

Yeah, I want to know those.

Wired.

I'm really glad we've introduced you to those.

I've written a ball with one of them. Yeah, they're fucking slow balls.

They're a bit dense, you might be getting that draw.

It'd be a nightmare if it's raining, it wouldn't bounce at all. I know.

Mark, it's been an absolute joy to have you on, and before you go, your predictions. Now we're halfway through, Punjab at the top of the table, RCB a point behind, but who do you think is going to take it? Are one of the teams going to creep up? We've still got another, what, 4 weeks left?

Yeah, I think RCB, like I said before, I think that now that weight has gone off their shoulders a little bit, I could see them going, going back to back. And, you know, the fan base carries them through a little bit. You know, I've been at games at RCB where it is loud there, and I could see that as much as, you know, Punjab, good team, seem to have a really good dynamic, great coach obviously as well. But I just think that RCB, that, that lift, you could see maybe for the next few years that they could be right up there year after year.

Well, wishing you speedy recovery. We want to see you back in an England shirt.

Thank you.

Hopefully back this summer.

Don't know when yet. I haven't got like an end date. It's sort of how long's a piece of string at the minute, but, um, might give me a little bit more time to get a few more traitors, uh, traitors watching. I was saying before, Feather, Feather's my son's favorite character, so I'm glad he's on.

He must be a smart lad.

He must be a smart lad.

Well, it's been an absolute joy. Thank you. We'll be back with another episode of Strategic Timeout next week. I don't know about you, but I've got my eye on those galab drumming We'll see you soon.

Hello, I'm Nicky Campbell, and this could well be the podcast you've been waiting for. We're calling it Don't Say a Word, but it could be Don't Listen to That Song, Don't Read That Book, Don't Watch That Film, Don't Like That Post, Don't Laugh at That Joke. We're here to help you navigate, to make sense of it all, to keep up.

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