Ashes Scare: England Pacer Mark Wood Reports Hamstring Stiffness After Tour Match Spell

A major injury scare has hit the England camp just weeks before the start of The Ashes, with key fast bowler Mark Wood reporting stiffness in his left hamstring during the ongoing tour match against the England Lions.

Wood, who recently recovered from a long lay-off due to a knee injury, managed to bowl his planned eight overs on day one, finishing with figures of 0-29.

The severity of the issue remains unclear, but the ECB confirmed the injury and outlined the immediate plan.

“He has some stiffness in his left hamstring, which has kept him off the field for some time during the second session of the first day and will undergo a precautionary scan tomorrow.”

Wood is not expected to return to the field for the remainder of the day but the prognosis is cautiously optimistic. The spokesperson added that Wood “is expected to bowl again in two days’ time.”

The injury concern is magnified by the current trend in Australian domestic cricket, where both Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott recently suffered similar hamstring issues during a Shield match. While Hazlewood has been cleared for the first Test, the incident highlights the fragility of fast bowlers at the start of a long series.

In the tour match, the bowling workload was largely taken up by Ben Stokes, who impressed by taking the majority of the wickets, including the scalps of Tom Haines (20), Jacob Bethell (2), Jordan Cox (53) and Rehan Ahmed (16).