The 36-year-old Mark Wood has retired from international cricket and released a statement regarding the same. Known to be one of the fastest English bowlers, the pacer last played in the Perth Test match against Australia, where he went wicketless in both innings of the game.
The 36-year-old Wood was part of World Cup-winning teams in the ODI (2019) and T20 (2022) formats and also played in four Ashes series, taking the wicket to win back the urn at Trent Bridge in his first series in 2015.
“Although this may not come as a surprise given the past year, it just feels like a natural time at the end of my contract. I’ve always tried to be resilient and come back from injury to prove people wrong and show everyone what I can do. Unfortunately, this time I lost the battle. On medical advice, Test cricket and 50-over cricket are not possible, so the England dream has slowly gone out of me over the last year,” he said.
“Playing for England has been the greatest honour I could have ever wished for and a dream come true. The little lad in me would be so chuffed to have played so much for England. To travel the world, meet incredible people and play cricket with and against the best is something I feel incredibly lucky to have done while doing something I have loved,” he added.
While the player has called time on his international cricket career, he hasn’t ruled out playing cricket in some capacity. Injuries always plagued the right-arm seamer, and didn’t play cricket since the Test in Australia. In 2025, the bowler played a few ODIs in India and was part of the English side in the Champions Trophy.
English cricket director Rob Key said that it was a great thrill to watch the pacer in the latter part of his career. “He made a difference in an Ashes win, two World Cup wins, and to entertain the fans with the ball in his hands is a feat very few players can achieve. He can look back at his career with pride.”
The Durham-born pacer made headlines when he bowled one of the fastest spells in a Test match against West Indies. The first ball clocked 93 miles per hour, followed by deliveries bowled at 96, 95, and 92 MPH. The fifth delivery recorded a speed of 96, and the final ball was bowled at 94 MPH. He also bowled a delivery that was clocked at 97.1 Miles per hour in the same game.
Mark Wood’s international career in numbers
The right-arm bowler played 38 Test matches, picking up 119 wickets with a best of 6/37, which was one of the five occasions he took a fifer. The bowler also played 70 ODI games, taking 80 wickets with a best of 4/33, and 54 wickets from 38 games in the T20I format.
Mark Wood claimed 18 wickets for England in the 2019 World Cup, which included figures of 1/49 from ten overs in the final, where Ross Taylor was his only wicket. His best figures in that tournament were 3/34 against the Kiwis. He dismissed James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, and Matt Henry.