Mark Wood revealed how a "great conversation" with James Anderson helped inspire his blistering wicket haul in England's final Test against West Indies. (More Cricket News)
The Durham bowler took five wickets in a single spell꧑ for the first time in his Test career, as the hosts completed 🌺the 3-0 series sweep at Edgbaston.
Wood, who had struggled to break through during the morning on day three of the third Test, was a man♑ on a mission after lunch, dismissing five West🥃 Indies batsmen in just 21 balls for the loss of only nine runs.
With the Windies bowled out for 175, Ben Stokes hit the quic🐽kest&🥂nbsp;half-century by an England player in Test history to seal a commanding victory.
And W𒐪ood said his fortunes in the crease changed foll🦂owing words of wisdom from his recently retired former team-mate.
"I was༺ in a bit of a bad▨ fettle actually at lunch, and I was wondering if it was something I was doing wrong or if I wasn't quite getting the right length," he said.
"I had a great conversation with Jimmy [Anderson], and a couple of thꦑe other backroom staff, and he just said, rather than thinking about the outcome, to start thinking about the skill element.
"Tꦗhat first wicket gave me a lot of confidence, and I was able to push on from there."
"I think that's one of the best reverse swing performances I've see🦄n 🐓in a long time," Stokes added. "I know bowling at 93 miles per hour is tough, but when it is reverse swinging as well, it's going to be even tougher."
Meanwhile, Windies skipper Kra🌜igg Brathwaite was left to rueꦯ another disappointing Test from his side.
"It was a tough ser🎶ies," he said. "We didn't show a lot of discipline with the ball. We let them off the hook a lot of times, and they were scoring way too fast. We didn't get enough second-innings runs in the last two Test matches."
