Mark Wood

Wood hails from the same place as his idol Stephen Harmison - Ashington from Northumberland. He is not the same as Harmison or any of the typical English bowlers. Wood is 6ft tall and is pretty much a hit-the-deck bowler. He gets movement, but usually he beats the batsman for his pace. The right-arm quick can generate good pace and bowl consistently at 140kph or above.

Wood started his career with Northumberland and played for them between 2008 to 2010. He then joined Durham in 2011 and in his first season itself, he took 19 wickets at 21.63 including a 5-fer that won his side the game against Nottinghamshire. Paul Collingwood's decision to promote young talent helped Wood as he was pivotal when Durham won the county championship in 2013. The fast bowler ended the season with 27 scalps at 24.07.

Wood's consistent performances earned him a place in the England Test side during the 2015 series against New Zealand. In his first four games, Wood claimed 14 wickets and his work rate was horsemen like, but still he was overlooked for the third Ashes Test, Steven Finn replaced him. However, due to his raw pace and accuracy, Wood continued to be in the selectors' radar.

Despite injuries plaguing him at regular intervals, Wood has been a key component of England's limited-overs attack. His ability to unsettle the batsmen with pace makes him the X-Factor of the attack. He also played a couple of Tests during the 2017 summer at home against South Africa but was barely impressive. Wood got hit by injuries again and that forced him to miss the Ashes campaign in Australia. During the embarrassing drubbing suffered, England dearly missed a bowler who could clock high speeds like Wood. Ironically, he was there in Australia at that point, playing for the England Lions in the shorter formats.

However, the think tank weren't convinced of his ability to get through a five-day game just yet and that meant that he wasn't picked. If he can stay fit regularly, there is no denying the fact that Wood could become one of England's most potent pacers in the years to come. His numbers in international cricket thus far are anything but impressive. However, it is only a matter of time before he gets those right. An injury-free Wood adds so much value to the England unit. In 2018, he selected by the Chennai outfit in the Indian Premier League, but he returned home after playing just one game in a bid to keep his place in the Test side.

After being largely overlooked in the latter portion of 2018 in the ODIs, Wood made a big statement in the longest format against West Indies. When England had already lost the series and were trailing 0-2, Wood produced a Man-of-the-Match award winning performance by claiming 5/41 in 50 balls - his maiden Test fifer - at St. Lucia. This performance helped him regain his mojo back and the pacer followed it up with a good show in the 50-over format against the same opponents.

Wood had only one ODI to prove his worth before the 2019 Cricket World Cup when England locked horns against Pakistan. In one of the best batting-tracks at Nottingham, the right-handed pacer’s bowling figures of 2/71 was good enough for him to seal a spot in the 2019 World Cup squad. While Wood had a middling World Cup, he was famously run-out off the last ball of the final as England only managed to level New Zealand's score before going on to also tie the super-over and then win on a boundary count. Wood ended up suffering a side-strain and missed the following Ashes series.

Returning to the side for the third Test on England's tour to South Africa in 2019-20, Wood played a crucial part with ball but also scored crucial runs down the order with England going on to win the series 3-1.

Wood was part of England's squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup and the subsequent 2022 T20 World Cup which England won. He ended up injuring himself again during the Super-12 stages and missed the knockouts.

Wood was a part of England's squad again for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Written by Abhinand Raghavendran