96 SMILES PER HOUR

Wood's thunderbolts put shellshocked Aussie batsmen on back foot

- DEAN WILSON

MARK WOOD steamed in to put England on the express train to an Ashes comeback at Leeds, even if his teammates kept trying to jump off.

Dropped catches and three wickets tamely given away in reply means the direction of travel in this must-win match for England is far from certain.

But with Yorkshire duo Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow at the crease, the quartet of missed opportunities by them in the field can be consigned to history if their batting matches the quality of Wood's bowling.

The ledger reads 68-3, a deficit of 195 on Australia's 263 all out, so there is still a way to go.

But Wood's 96mph fast show gave him 5-34, his first five-wicket haul on home soil in 26 attempts.

His return to Test action lifted the heartrate of the Headingley crowd as he sent down thunderbolt after thunderbolt to rock the foundations of Australia's line-up.

He knocked over Usman Khawaja with a beauty between bat and pad, while the rest of the top order were decidedly uncomfortable until the ball got older.

And when he returned, he blew away the lower order. They flapped at balls they did not want to and brought bats down about half an hour too late on others.

Exhilarating stuff, but between his first and fourth pulsating spells it was another returnee, Mitch Marsh, who lit up the ground with an innings straight out of the Bazball playbook.