England speedster to return home this week following recurrence of a left knee injury during the first Test in Perth
England’s faltering Ashes campaign has suffered another huge blow with fast bowler Mark Wood ruled out for the rest of the series with a knee injury.
Wood missed England’s second Test defeat at the Gabba following a recurrence of a left knee injury during the series opener in Perth.
The 35-year-old speedster had surgery on his left knee in March. England team management confirmed this evening he wouldn’t recover in time to be available for the final three Tests.
“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,” said Wood in a post to England’s social media channels.
Wood had also overcome a hamstring scare in England’s intra-squad warm-up game in Perth last month to take his place in the XI for the first Test.
“Wood will return home later this week and will work closely with the ECB medical team on his rehabilitation and recovery,” a statement read.
“Surrey seamer Matthew Fisher has been added to the senior squad and will link up with the group this week, having been in Australia with the (England) Lions.”
Despite the joint being heavily bandaged at training in the lead up to the series and during the first Test, Wood’s opening day spell in Perth has been one of the few highlights for England so far this tour.
While he went wicketless in eight overs to return figure of 0-21, Wood hit frightening speeds alongside Jofra Archer that unsettled the Australian batters before captain Ben Stokes picked up five wickets to skittle the hosts for 132.
Wood’s partnership with fellow express quick Archer was tipped to be one of England’s biggest weapons this Ashes series, but unfortunately for the visitors, such spells have been few and far between in the opening two Tests as they slipped to a 0-2 deficit.
Archer, who has three wickets at 57 in 47 overs across the first two Tests, produced his fastest spell of the series in Australia’s small second innings run chase at the Gabba on Sunday night.
“He (Archer) would love to have more impact so far in the series than he’s had. But I think he still has a huge role to play for us in the next while,” England coach Brendon McCullum said on the Channel Seven broadcast post-match.
With Australia the current holders of the Ashes, England must win all three remaining Tests to regain the urn – the same situation they found themselves in during the last Ashes contest at home in 2023 after also losing the first two matches.
It was Wood’s comeback from injury in the third Test of the 2023 Ashes that swung that series, bowling with pace and speed on the opening day at Headingley.
He ended up England’s leading wicket-taker for the series with 17 at an average of 26.64 as Ben Stokes’ side came back from 2-0 down to level the five-match contest.
England had hoped he would be able to recover and play again later this series, but those plans were abandoned on Tuesday.
Right-armer Fisher, who played his sole Test during England’s 2022 tour of the West Indies following their humbling 4-0 defeat in the last Ashes series Down Under, returned figures of 0-105 during the Lions’ innings loss to Australia A in Brisbane.
But the 28-year-old is coming off a strong county season for Surrey where he collected 31 wickets in 11 matches, which included an 11-wicket haul (5-61 and 6-73) against Nottinghamshire in September.
England’s Wood blow comes after Australia today also put a line through Josh Hazlewood for the rest of the Ashes due to a hamstring strain he suffered in the lead up to the series, which was followed by an Achilles setback last week.
– with AAP
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (second Test): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
