In the … sorry, let’s try again, a little quicker. In the ti … and once more. In the time … OK, let’s press on. They say the average adult reads at 300 words a minute. Which means that in the time it took you to read the first word of this article the ball had just left Mark Wood’s hand, and while you read the second it had travelled the length of the pitch, and by the time you finished the third it had landed, changed direction and beaten the batsman. Who, when they’re facing bowling of Wood’s pace, has approximately 0.4 seconds to judge the line, the length, decide on a shot and play it.
Or to put it another way, just enough time to blink their eyes twice, something they’ll likely do a third, fourth and fifth time when they turn around to figure out exactly what just happened to the ball that was just coming towards them. If they’re lucky they’ll find their stumps are still there where they’re supposed to be when they do it.
