England vs New Zealand: Mark Wood shouts ‘Asprilla’ as he tries to run out Ross Taylor

The opening Test between England and New Zealand at the Lord’s Cricket Ground was drawn. However, Mark Wood, the Three Lions’ fast bowler, had his fair share of fun. In the second innings, he enjoyed himself thoroughly.

In a video doing the rounds on social media, Wood was heard, saying “Asprilla”, while trying to run Ross Taylor out. It was in reference to Faustino Asprilla, who scored nine goals in 48 matches for the North-East side between 1996 and 1998.

Later on, Wood can be heard shouting, “Ketsbaia”, with Georgian player Temur Ketsbaia another Newcastle player. Wood, earlier, mentioned about Asprilla when Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan signed the Colombian footballer in February 1996.

In the EPL league table, the Magpies were at the top of the points table. Wood’s words came when the debate surrounding Jofra Archer’s selection for the 2019 World Cup was going on.

“I was speaking about this with the lads at Durham and it was the old Kevin Keegan thing, bringing in Tino Asprilla because you want to keep the team at the top. You still want to keep moving forward but does that change the dynamic? Does it mix it up? All of a sudden, you can lose the momentum and drop down,” Wood had said.

Here’s Mark Wood’s video:

“ASPRILLA” hahahaha #NUFC pic.twitter.com/MSyEzuiuXv

— DH (@DN_HY) June 6, 2021

In the fourth innings, the Brits needed to track down 273 runs on the fifth day, but the hosts went for the conservative approach. Dominic Sibley scored an unbeaten 207-ball 60 as England ended with 170 for three in 70 overs. Skipper Joe Root also scored 40 in the second innings before Neil Wagner trapped him in front.

“We tried to lay a platform at the start, but unfortunately didn’t materialize the way we would have liked. It would have been easy to go hard early today, but it was a tricky wicket. We felt we didn’t have enough overs to go for it.

“It was about the conditions more than the talent in the dressing room. Once that decision was made to close the day out and play for a draw, we had to make sure we weren’t silly as batters,” Root was quoted as saying.