England's Wood has no regrets over Afghanistan short stuff

England fast bowler Mark Wood said he had no regrets about persisting with short-pitched deliveries after hitting Afghanistan batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi with a bouncer.

Shahidi had made 24 when he took his eye off a 90 mile-per-hour (145 kilometres-per-hour) delivery from the Durham quick that thudded into the side of his helmet at Old Trafford on Tuesday and saw him hit the turf immediately after the impact.

But instead of retiring hurt, the 24-year-old donned a new helmet and carried on to top-score for Afghanistan, with 76 in a lopsided 150-run loss.

Wood, while concerned enough to check on Shahidi's condition, had no regrets about testing him and the other Afghanistan batsmen with more short-pitched deliveries.

"Well, I was concerned when I first hit him, obviously," said Wood.

"It was a bit of a bad blow and then it's out of my hands really. You have to let the medical staff do their thing. I checked he was all right himself, said 'are you OK?'. Then I was back in the game mode."
"Once you know he (the batsman) is all right, it's game time again."
Told he had split Hashmatullah's helmet, Wood grinned: "I'm bowling them quite fast... for a change!"
"A lot of the bowlers tend to sit in the back of the dressing room and try and relax but even I came out and watched that because it was great to see on such a big occasion."