"I wondered if I'd go white-ball only" - Mark Wood admits he considered quitting Test cricket during his injury lay-off

England speedster Mark Wood has revealed that he considered giving up Test cricket earlier this year during a long injury lay-off. However, the right-arm fast bowler stated that he is happy not to have quit, given England's rise in Tests under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Wood's elbow injury suffered during the West Indies tour in March kept him out of action for more than four months, forcing him to go for surgery.

The Durham pacer returned to international cricket in September during England's seven-match T20I series in Pakistan.

During long and dark periods of recovery, Wood admitted to thinking if he should only stick to white-ball cricket due to an aging body.

The 32-year-old was quoted as saying by The Guardian:

"I wondered if I'd go white-ball only. At some my point my body will say that it's the way to go but I didn't prepare for white-ball, I prepared for all cricket. I desperately wanted to experience all this, with Stokesy and Brendon, so I'm pleased I've stuck with it.

"And I'm pleased we won here. I'd have been gutted if we'd won, I'd come in, and we'd lost. They'd have been pointing fingers at me!"

The right-arm pacer missed the first Test in Rawalpindi due to a hip injury before making a thunderous return in Multan. He registered figures of 11.5-1-40-2 and 21-2-65-4 in the first and second innings, respectively, to catapult England to a memorable series victory.

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"He’s always had a fantastic cricket brain" - Mark Wood on Ben Stokes

Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. (Credits: Getty)

Wood, who played alongside Stokes at Durham Academy, praised the Test captain's headstrong attitude and cricketing brain, labeling the all-rounder as a world-class skipper, saying:

"Yeah. It’s weird, the lad I grew up with, he was this alpha guy who would whack it and never back down. And he’s still got all that. He’s always had a fantastic cricket brain but he’s got other sides to him now.

"The way he conducts himself and the messages that he gives, he’s just so much more rounded than when we were growing up. He’ll put an arm round people and express what he means really articulately – I didn’t think he had some of the words in his locker. He’s been world-class, to be fair."

England and Pakistan will lock horns in the third Test in Karachi, starting on December 17.

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