Durhamfootman wrote:He's also, despite his injury woes, almost certainly the quickest bowler that England have ever had. Dobell recently said that in his opinion, when the time comes, Wood will be the hardest player for England to replace since Graeme Swann. That spell at Headingley was one of the great spells of fast bowling imo. Truly astonishing pace. I kind of watched it in disbelief
Was Dobell suggesting that in pure type/pace, Wood would be hard to replace, or as a player in general and what he brings to the side? Because if its the former, yes indeed that goes without saying but its debatable what value sheer pace has anyway, if its the latter then poor George needs a straightjacket I think. People love pace, and of course there will be times when sheer pace will be valuable. But how valuable it is, is often overstated dramatically.
You can demonstrate Wood's value on the team by two factors....
Firstly, his own performance as a yardstick. In matches where he plays, he has the worst bowling average out of all the regular pace bowling options that played along side him (rated by counting those to have taken 10 wickets), and in his career span, there are also another handful of players who have taken 10 wickets who performed better than him on wicket average. If you take those pace bowlers that never played with him, those that performed worse, when isolated to their own career time frames and Wood's performance at the same time, also performed better than him (so Steve FInn/Archer, etc).
Secondly, its often presented that Wood's pace adds another dimension that elevates all bowlers. This is, on the data, false. Anderson for instance averages 21 in matches without Wood, and nearly 30 with him. Broad and Robinson are consistent. The only example of a player who performs better in the team when with Wood, is Chris Woakes. But then that only became true after the last test, and the vast disparity between Woakes away and home form makes him somewhat of a statistical outlier.
It's also worth noting when Wood's best bowling comes. In games that are always live (ie test 1-2 of a series) he averages 41 and 35.... at the end of series, he averages pretty well. Games like in Hobart or the third test vs Windies, that represent his best moments, were dead rubbers. Of course, there is examples of brilliant games he has had in live series, Leeds this year being an example, the the trend is very much for him to bowl badly in games that are live series, and pick up stats at the end.