Mark Wood retires from international cricket at 36 — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Mark Wood, 36, announced immediate retirement from international cricket, stating on medical advice that Test and 50-over cricket are no longer possible after injuries to his elbow and left knee
- Wood took 119 wickets in 38 Tests since his 2015 debut, helping England win the Ashes that summer, and finishes as England's sixth-highest T20I wicket-taker with 54 scalps in 38 matches
- Wood was part of England's 2019 ODI World Cup triumph — where he took 18 wickets — and the 2022 T20 World Cup-winning squad, making him one of only a handful of England players to have won both World Cups and the Ashes
- Wood played a pivotal role in the 2023 Ashes, bowling a 95mph spell at Headingley that dismissed Usman Khawaja as England came back from 2-0 down to level the series
- Wood managed only 11 overs in the first Ashes Test in Perth in November before knee swelling forced him home; he had been sidelined for 15 months with an elbow injury and knee surgery prior to that return
- England have lost 1,871 Test wickets in under three years through the retirements of Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Chris Woakes, Wood, and the reduced bowling of Ben Stokes
- Rob Key, England men's cricket managing director, said Wood had been 'a point of difference in Ashes series wins, two World Cup wins' and 'thrilled crowds every time he got the ball in his hand'
Why it matters: Wood's retirement leaves Joe Root as the only remaining England Test player who has tasted Ashes glory, and the exit of Broad, Anderson, Woakes, and now Wood — plus Stokes's reduced bowling — means England have shed 1,871 Test wickets in less than three years, forcing a full regeneration of their pace attack.
Ask SkimNews
