Mark Wood all but confirms cricket retirement
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England pacer Mark Wood has been constantly sidelined by repeated injuries and has opened up on a career beyond the field, hinting towards a possible call for retirement.
English paceman Mark Wood was one of the most lethal pacers in the world at one time, but his frequent injuries reduced his career to a large extent. The pacer was last seen for England in the 2025 Ashes Test series against Australia.
Mark Wood has picked 119 Test wickets, 80 ODI wickets, and 54 T20I scalps in his career. He was part of England's squad that won the Ashes in 2015, the ICC World Cup in 2019, and lastly the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022.
"It's real slow going with the stage I'm at in my career," said the 36-year-old English pacer
England's top-tier pacer Mark Wood said that he has started contemplating a future beyond cricket for the first time due to his slow recovery from the knee injury, which he suffered during the Ashes tour in Australia.
The pacer, who turned 36, returned to Test cricket action after being sidelined for 15 months straight after he was kept out due to an elbow injury and knee surgery. He, however, could manage to take the field only to bowl 11 overs against Australia during the first Test of the Ashes, before struggling with another knee injury.
"It's real slow going with the stage I'm at in my career. It's quite a fine balance, where if I push this too hard, then that could be it," said Wood on his recovery on the BBC Tailenders podcast.
The pacer also regretted not having played County Cricket ahead of the Ashes; he said, despite trying hard; his recovery didn't allow him to be available for a handful of County games.
"I tried to get back at certain points, but my knee wasn't quite ready. It's easy in hindsight; even if I was at 80 percent, then at least the game would have given us an indicator of where I was," he claimed.
It's six-week blocks; it's not day by day- Mark Wood revealed his recovery schedule
The lead pacer revealed that he is not even rushing through his recovery, and the repeated cycles on his checking have not been on a day-to-day basis, but rather on a six-week block.
"It's six-week blocks; it's not day by day. It's specialists and rescans every six weeks. It's been improving since what I got told had been an explosion in my knee in Australia," the English pacer revealed.
Mark Wood also confirmed that with every check, he is getting better. After the recent check he has been running, he hopes that by the next checking time, he will be fit and bowling.
"So every six weeks has been an improvement. I've started running now, and I'm hoping by the next block it's in a position where maybe I can start bowling lightly," he concluded.
I've started thinking about other things- Wood hinted towards a possible retirement
After such a slow rate of recovery for England in international cricket, his role might be very limited, as his increasing age is also a concern for a fast bowler. With the uncertainty over his future, Wood said that his thoughts for the first time have been going beyond cricket.
Mark Wood revealed, "I've started thinking about other things, doing podcasts, and doing my coaching badges. I've now started to try and think for the first time about what I should do if this doesn't go well."
This might also be a hint towards the possible retirement plans for the legendary paceman, who might be aiming to end his stint as an international cricketer.
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