Chester-le-Street, Jul 4 (IANS): England fast bowler Mark Wood believes his side's crucial 119-run win over New Zealand on his home ground in Durham is one of the proudest days of his career.

On Wednesday, Wood took 3/34 as England booked a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time since 1992.

The 29-year-old hails from the north-eastern village of Ashington around 50km north of the Riverside.

"It was a pretty special day. Apart from maybe my debut, that was the proudest game I've had," Wood was quoted as saying by the ICC.

"Singing the national anthem with my whole family in the crowd was pretty special. The ground looked great and the result was even better."

Wood, who will make his 50th ODI appearance if selected in the semi-final, praised the team's comeback from back-to-back defeats to beat India and New Zealand, saying: "It's taken a lot of courage from the team to maintain our values even when we've had our backs up against the wall.

"Now we're going on to another huge game but one we'll be pretty confident about. Maybe at the end of the World Cup if everything goes to plan we might look back at the Sri Lanka and Australia games and say they built the character of the team," he added.