England fast bowler Mark Wood will see a knee specialist in London on Friday to determine a comeback trail following his heartbreaking Ashes-ending injury.
Wood, who turned 36 on Sunday, hobbled out of the 4-1 defeat to Australia after sending down just 11 overs having spent seven months of rehabilitation to line up for the first Test in Perth.
The Durham fast bowler produced a devastatingly fast first spell of the series, never dropping below 92 miles per hour in his opening over and showing exactly why England’s selectors wanted their most successful attacking weapon of the 2021-22 Ashes back on the field.
However, Wood failed to generate the same level of hostility in the second innings and later had fluid drained from his knee after his long-standing issue resurfaced.
England were keen on the world’s quickest bowler featuring in the second Test in Brisbane but were guided on selection by their medical team and it became clear ahead of the third match in Adelaide that he would play no further part.
Wood regularly sported a knee brace down under, and although it was reckoned to be discomfort in his hamstring that caused panic during the warm-up week in Lilac Hill, scans came back all clear, suggesting it may have been an underlying issue with the left knee operated on last March.
Renowned knee surgeons Andy Williams and Simon Ball, of the Fortius Clinic, have treated Wood over the years and the latest appointment in the capital will determine whether a player who puts such incredible force through his 5ft 10in frame is able to extend his England career beyond the 38th Test cap he won on November 21.
A player who terrorised Australia with a man-of-the-match seven wicket performance at Headingley in 2023 has defied a creaking body for more than a decade on the international stage, but with his central contract running out in October and the first of England’s six home Tests in 2026, against New Zealand at Lord’s, starting in less than five months, time is not on his side.
Wood said he was ‘gutted’ to be missing the remainder of the Ashes when confirming the news on social media last month, adding: ‘After extensive surgery and seven long hard months of work and rehab to get back into the Test arena, my knee just hasn’t held up. I came here with high expectations about making a big impact.
‘I’m desperately disappointed that despite yet more injections and intensive medical treatment it has become clear that the flare up in my knee is worse than feared.’
One school of thought is that Wood was not robust enough for the magnitude of an Ashes battle, due to a lack of first-class cricket in the build-up.
His previous competitive match was a Champions Trophy defeat to Afghanistan last February when he somehow managed to send down eight overs, bowling through obvious pain after injuring his knee early on.
