Wood targets Durham return in England Ashes boost

England’s fast bowler Mark Wood says he wants to play for Durham in the coming months as he prepares to start training for the Ashes series in Australia.

Wood, 35, has had knee surgery on a knee injury at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and has missed since February, which is crucial to England’s chances of winning in Australia.

Prior to a setback, he had hoped to play his fifth Test against India earlier this month. Due to England’s prioritization of the winter, he was also omitted from the squad for the next two white-ball games against South Africa and Ireland in March.

Wood stated on the podcast titled “The injury is all right.”

Wood’s significance for England’s first Ashes victory since 2015 cannot be overstated.

They want a group of bowlers with the ability to create high pace in Australia, and Wood, who has had a number of injury issues throughout his career, is the quickest. They also have Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse, and Gus Atkinson as their options.

Wood may also be the only front-line bowler to have ever played a Test in Australia if Chris Woakes is unable to recover from a shoulder injury or is omitted. On the 2021-22 tour, he took 17 wickets, including nine in Hobart’s fifth test.

Durham has three County Championship games left this season: Essex starts on September 8, Worcestershire starts on September 15, and Yorkshire travels on September 24.

Wood said, “I’ll try to play one or two of those.”

“I’ve been very cautious and well looked after.”

They have this final destination where they want me to travel to Australia, so I value it.

However, I told England coach Brendon McCullum, Baz McCullum, that I couldn’t just bowl to the net for four months and would go crazy.

I’ll travel to Perth early with a few bowlers after going to a bowling camp in Loughborough in a tent and getting accustomed there.

We’ll arrive a week early to get ready and adjust, according to the schedule.