England fast bowler Wood out of Ashes tour with injury

Sydney: Fast bowler Mark Wood will play no further part in the Ashes tour and is to fly home from Australia at the weekend, England announced Tuesday.

Wood, 35, returned to action in the first Test in Perth after surgery kept him out for eight months, only to miss the second match in Brisbane after his left knee flared up again.

“Wood will return home later this week and will work closely with the ECB medical team on his rehabilitation and recovery,” said an England statement.

Wood said he was “gutted” in a lengthy post on social media.

“After extensive surgery and months of work and rehab to get back into the Test arena, my knee just hasn’t held up,” he said.

Wood will be replaced in the squad by Matthew Fisher, 28, who won his only Test cap on a tour of the West Indies in 2022.

Fisher has been with the second-string England Lions squad in Australia.

“None of us expected this,” said Wood, whose absence will be a big blow to England who are already 2-0 down in the five-match series.

“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.”

It could signal the end of a 10-year Test career for Wood, one of the quickest bowlers ever to play for England.

But Wood said he would try to come back.

“It has been a tough road these past few months but I remain determined to give it another proper go,” said Wood, who was an Ashes winner with England at home in 2015.

His career has been blighted by injuries and the Perth Test ended a 15-month absence from Test cricket, first because of an elbow injury, then the knee.

Wood bowled only 11 overs in Perth without taking a wicket.

– Hazlewood out –

Australia earlier announced that their fast bowling spearhead Josh Hazlewood would miss the whole of the Ashes series after sitting out the first two Tests with injury.

Coach Andrew McDonald told reporters that Hazlewood had suffered problems in recovering from hamstring and Achilles injuries.

“We thought he’d play a huge part in the series. But really feel for him that he won’t get that opportunity,” said McDonald

Hazlewood will now aim to be fully fit for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, which begins in February.

Fellow fast bowler Pat Cummins looks certain to return as captain when Australia look to wrap up the series in next week’s third Test in Adelaide.

The 32-year-old Cummins has been sidelined since the tour to the West Indies in July with a lower back injury.

McDonald said that Cummins had come through a match-like workload in training last week and was ready to play.

“This is something we’ve done with Pat before with longish layoffs, where we’ve put some time and effort into rebuilding his body,” said McDonald.

“He simulated pretty much what a match will look like out there with multiple spells. So we feel as though he’ll be as best prepared as can be.”