England Pacer Luke Wood Calls Wasim Akram His Inspiration

England left-arm seam bowler Luke Wood has said he is inspired by Wasim Akram and his country's former quick Ryan Sidebottom, revealing that the words of wisdom from the Pakistani great had helped him take three wickets in the opening T20I on his debut in Karachi.

Wood returned a superb figure of 3/24 in his maiden T20I appearance on September 20 as his efforts helped England win by six wickets. The 27-year-old, though, was expensive in the second T20I at the same venue on Thursday evening, as the brilliance of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan helped Pakistan win the second match by 10 wickets to level the seven-match series.

Woods became the seventh left-arm quick selected in England T20 squads this year.

"As a kid, him (Akram) and Ryan Sidebottom were my two that I looked up to, and thankfully I got to speak to him when I was over here at the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in February, so that was pretty cool," Wood said about his T20I debut three-wicket haul.

"We spoke about bowling, and he did a little bit at Lancashire earlier this year and we had another chat, so I got a few tips from him then. He's not telling you how to bowl; he's suggesting little things you could think about, like plans," added Wood.

Wood, who was a non-playing member during an ODI tour of the Netherlands earlier this year, added that the "idea that you can play too many left-armers is a huge myth".

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"Teams can play four right-armers but can't play four left-armers? I just never understood that. We're all different: all different heights and speeds, all have different attributes."