The English cricket team have suffered a massive blow as fast bowler Mark Wood has been ruled out for the remainder of 2024 due to an elbow injury. Earlier, Wood sustained an injury on his right elbow after feeling stiffness during the Test series against the West Indies earlier this year.

As per the scans, Wood has a stress injury on the bone, according to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement. Mark took part in the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in Manchester, but could not play the second and third Tests at the Lord’s and Kennington Oval. The 34-year-old speedster will be under the supervision of the ECB medical staff in order to gain full fitness for matches to be held next year.

“Wood will continue to work closely with the ECB medical team on his management and rehabilitation,” the statement from the England board read.

“I work incredibly hard on my fitness, putting in extra work with coaches and physios, making this even more disappointing. However, I guess this is, ‘part of being a fast bowler’, like Stokesy (Ben Stokes) says. I will miss the rest of the year needing time to rest and build up, fully expecting to be back and firing in early 2025,” Wood wrote in a post on social media.

Despite Wood’s injury, England have a good chain of bowlers in their camp.  Gus Atkinson, who already scalped three five-wicket hauls, and Josh Hull, who played his debut game in the ongoing KIA Oval Test are counted among the talented bowlers.

Star player Chris Woakes is their most experienced pacer for England as he has been there in the middle for a while now. The English team clinched the series against Sri Lanka 2-0 and are eyeing clean-sweep in the red-ball series. England are standing fifth in the table in the WTC 2023-25 cycle with 81 points from 15 matches.