England bowler Mark Wood talks exclusively to Sky Sports Cricket’s Ian Ward about his decision to retire from international cricket due to a knee injury; Wood hasn’t played since November 2025 and admits he rushed return from injury to play Ashes Test in Perth Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player England fast bowler Mark Wood has announced his retirement from international cricket due to a knee injury. Wood departs the sport having featured in 38 Test matches where he claimed 119 wickets. The 36-year-old has not played for England since an eight-wicket defeat to Australia in the first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes series. In that series opener in Perth, he suffered a reoccurrence of the same injury which ruled him out of the remainder of the Ashes series.
In conversation with Sky Sports Cricket’s Ian Ward on whether his decision to retire was difficult, straightforward or emotional, Wood replied: “Probably all of them. When you speak to other people, they say it hits you in the face, there’s a big feeling around that being it: ‘You’re done.’ “I’ve never really had that, I love playing cricket, I love playing for England, that’s been something I’ve felt really strongly about and proud to do. But I’ve had a lot of injuries. “I’ve always found a way where I’ve believed I’d come back and had that resilience where I’m going to come back again, or I’ll be better, or I’ll prove somebody wrong again, but this time it’s just ground me down really.
“I think it’s been a long time since Perth, that was in November 2025 my last game, so it’s been a year-and-a-half really where it’s just sort of ground me down to thinking: ‘I’m never going to get back to this level.’ “Plus the contract situation. My contract ends in September, and I think it just feels like the right time. “I never really wanted to give up England, but the lads that are coming through are doing a fantastic job and the news should be about the lads going to get their contracts and I can just focus on other things.” Wood made his international debut in 2015 in limited-overs cricket, and retires having made 70 one-day international appearances and been a part of England’s 50-over World Cup-winning squad in 2019. He also played 38 T20 internationals and took nine wickets in four games as England won the World Cup in 2022, though injury would deny Wood the chance of playing in the semi-finals and final.
Wood will be part of the Sky Sports commentary team for Tuesday’s one-day international between England and Sri Lanka in Durham. 2015: Left ankle injury, misses third Ashes Test 2016: Ankle problems continue, undergoes surgery and misses England’s home Test summer 2019: Side strain, misses first two Ashes Tests 2022: Right elbow injury in the West Indies, requires surgery 2022: Body stiffness rules him out of the T20 World Cup semi-final and final 2024: Right thigh muscle injury against Sri Lanka 2024: Right elbow stress injury, ruled out for the remainder of the year 2025: Left knee ligament damage, undergoes surgery 2025-26 Ashes: Suffers recurrence of knee injury after returning to Test cricket 2026: Forced into international retirement after recurring knee problems Having expressed a determination to play for England again after his latest injury, Australia proved to be Wood’s final Test appearance, ending a career beset and curtailed by injury. “I knew it was bad [knee injury] because I’d had that previous surgery where I was always trying to chase my tail,” Wood added to Sky Sports. “Looking back now, it probably never was quite right. “I was always chasing that dream of, can I physically do this?
My ankle problems, my elbow problems, all the rest of them, every time I went back, it felt better. This time, something wasn’t quite right. “Since I’ve had the second operation, things have improved, but not to the point where I believe I could play Test match cricket. I couldn’t play 50-over cricket.
I mean, I’d still love to play for England for 20 overs, but I think it just feels like a nice time to just say that’s a natural end. “Probably, from my point of view [came back too early and rushed return]. I don’t think it’s to blame anybody else, it was just, I was desperate to play Perth because it was the fastest wicket there. “There and in Brisbane, they were the two games I was definitely trying to pencil myself in for.
“I hadn’t had much time back on my legs. The warm-up game, my hamstring got incredibly tight because it was looking after my knee, and I think that whole time, when you talk about injury, people don’t see the work you’re putting in behind you. “I was desperately trying to get it right. I was taped up to the nines, and I was like a mummy at one point I had that much tape on, but I just couldn’t get back quite to that level, and I was just not quite the same in Australia.” Watch the first one-day international between England and Sri Lanka, in Durham, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 12pm Tuesday (first ball 12.30pm).
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