England quick Mark Wood says the criticism around England's training methods is "so far from the truth", but that team members have sometimes been naive in their press interactions.
In conversation with former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Wood was asked about the outside noise around the team's training methods.
During their white-ball bilateral tour of India earlier this year, the team came under heavy fire from ex-pros and current commentators Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Shastri for their supposed lack of training in a series which saw them lose seven out of eight matches.
Two weeks ago, in a separate interview, Pietersen doubled down on his comments, saying he stood by every word. He went on to call the situation "absolutely disgraceful" before adding, "Guys don’t go and play golf every day and go and wing it."
Wood: England training criticism is so far from the truth
"I think this whole thing makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable," Wood said. I'm not going to lie. I think the reason I'm so uncomfortable with it is because it's so far from the truth. And I think sometimes we've been so...how can I say this...naive, a bit dumb in the things that we say in the press. We'll say things in the dressing room, I think that's in the dressing room. That should stay there.
"And then we come out to the press and we say things that [are] maybe off the cuff one-liners that a group of lads have been talking about, and all of a sudden it's in the press and it makes us look like 'Billy Big Boots,' above our station. I don't particularly like that."
"I think we've got to be respectful and I tell you one thing that does bother us about the media. I'm not saying that you two guys have done this, but this narrative about golf, golf, golf. I don't play golf. I don't like it. That's not a game for me. I know the lads enjoy it and it's that time off. But like at times it's almost as if the golf's more important and that is not true at all.
"I cannot stress that enough, that when we're in training, especially under Stokes, McCullum, that is when we train. We train hard and I think it's about being sensible. Sometimes if it's 35 degrees in Pakistan, you're not going to charge in for an eight over spell the day before a game."
'We could definitely improve the quotes that come out from the team'
While Wood's defense of the side was passionate, he did acknowledge that there were still improvements that could be made in how they presented themselves: "The lads don't take it for granted that you're playing for England. [There's] this narrative that 'Oh well we'll just go and play golf', 'This is the best gig in the world' are the quotes thrown out there.
"I can understand people's frustration with it but I'm telling you that people genuinely care and genuinely work hard. I'm there to win for England, and that's what makes me feel uncomfortable. It's this narrative that we don't care. It hurts when we get beat – nobody likes getting beat – and I think the quotes that come out from the team sometimes...we could definitely improve that because it doesn't then come across that way, how people are truly feeling."
"It's not like I'm kicking off with all our players. It's not like I'm going, 'You shouldn't have said that in the interview'. I think you want people to be themselves and have personality and be honest with you guys. If you ask the questions, you want to be honest and tell the truth, but this whole, 'Oh well, as long as you're good at golf, you'll get picked in the team', them kind of comments wind me up."
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
