Mark Wood dominated out for four months after knee surgical procedure

Mark Wood will miss 4 months of cricket following an operation on his left knee, successfully ruling the quick bowler out of England's Test collection against India this summer, even as preserving him inside the hunt for the Ashes this wintry weather. The 35-yr antique underwent surgical treatment on Wednesday morning in London after scans showed medial ligament harm, which came to the fore during England's Champions Trophy group stage defeat to Afghanistan in Lahore on the quit of last month. Wood was forced to go away the sector after pulling up halfway via his fourth over after experiencing "locking" in his knee. He again 38 mins later however ought to most effective bowl 4 of his closing six before leaving the field for properly. The Durham quick's left knee was heavily strapped at some stage in the tournament, because it have been for the reason that begin of 2024. The timeframe for Wood's recovery way it's miles rather unlikely he functions within the five-suit series against India, which begins at Headingley on June 20. A seamless rehabilitation should see him to be had for the final Test on the Kia Oval (beginning July 31), with Durham's County Championship fixture in opposition to Somerset (July 22) a capacity go back to aggressive motion. That spherical starts offevolved an afternoon before the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford. At this juncture, the ECB believe Wood may be absolutely fit to tour Australia this winter. Speaking at Lord's closing week, men's dealing with director Rob Key said England will "paintings again from the Ashes" regarding choices round the fast bowler's fitness. "I'm gutted to be out for so long after representing England across all codecs for the reason that start of closing 12 months," said Wood in a declaration launched on Thursday. "But I've got every confidence that I'll be back firing on all cylinders now that I've been able to sort my knee out. "I need to thank the general practitioner, the docs, body of workers, my England teammates and coaches for his or her guide - and, of route, our fans. I can not wait to get returned and contribute to what will be a massive 2025 for us as a team." This contemporary setback joins a litany of previous injuries suffered by means of Wood considering debuting for England in 2015. It is the eighth operation of his profession, and his 2nd within the final eight months by myself, after an elbow stress fracture discovered ultimate August kept him out of movement for the relaxation of 2024. Though there's ample time in advance of this wintry weather's excursion of Australia, England can be sweating in this modern day hitch as a long way as their rapid bowling shares are involved. Brydon Carse's magnificent winter become curtailed with the aid of a left toe injury, while there stays a degree of trepidation round Jofra Archer's imminent return to Test cricket despite strong showings off the back of his very own series of injuries given he has not played a satisfactory suit when you consider that May 2021. Josh Tongue's appearance for England Lions in opposition to Australia A at the quit of January changed into his first competitive time out considering the fact that August 2023. Wood stays the standout of those quicks, and his latest file towards Australia underlines how essential he's to Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes in their tempo-focussed quest to reclaim the urn for the first time given that 2015. Wood changed into the sole vivid spot throughout England final Ashes tour Down Under in 2021-22, with 17 wickets at 26.Sixty four in a four-0 loss, and took 14 at 20.21 in the drawn 2023 series having arrived with Australia 2-zero up. It became additionally in opposition to Australia within the recent Champions Trophy that Wood bowled England's fastest ever ODI opening spell. McCullum leant on Wood after assuming manipulate of the white-ball groups at the start of yr, selecting him for nine of his first 10 matches in charge before injury struck. Having blocked Wood from getting into the IPL auction for the imminent version on the way to retaining him for the excessive-profile engagements of an India Test series and the Ashes, the ECB are in all likelihood to impose similarly restrictions on his workload transferring ahead. Though Wood's primary settlement, which expires in October 2026, consists of restricted-overs cricket and has to date covered three tournaments (together with the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup), it seems not going he's going to function in white-ball cricket for the remainder of this year.