Durham & England pace bowler Mark Wood is raring to get going with England Lions as the main side take on Australia in the first Ashes Test.
Wood joined the Test squad for net practice at the Gabba as they prepare for their own match against a Queensland XI, containing new Durham signing Nathan Rimmington, starting on Monday.
The 27-year-old narrowly missed out on Ashes selection a frustrating injury midway through the 2017 campaign, returning for Durham’s final match of the season at Worcestershire.
“It’s unfortunate that my body frustrated me and I couldn’t get on the full tour,” said Wood after England training in Brisbane.
“I didn’t do myself justice and they said that if I got my body right I’d still be in a position to have an impact in the series. So in the back of my mind it was always I’ve got a chance, but you have to wait for injuries.
“I know when I’ve been in the team and there’s people knocking on the door you can feel under pressure but I’m not here to put any of the lads under pressure, you don’t want anyone to get injured I’ve had enough myself to know you don’t wat people to go through that.
“We’ll just have to wait and see and if there is an injury I might be just in the background underneath the radar with the Lions hopefully doing well and I can just slot in.”
Wood impressed in England’s white ball summer, which involved the Champions Trophy & matches against South Africa, but struggled to make the impact he desired in the Tests against the latter.
Another unfortunate injury setback meant an untimely break from action at the latter end of the season & an appearance at New Road was not enough to force himself into Ashes contention.
And he admits he has had to work a lot on the mental side of his injury recovery.
“I’ve done a lot of work with the England psychologist. Sometimes I thought I woudn’t get back playing for England, and when I did get back playing, I wanted to stay there.
“So it has been immensely frustrating, and probably the toughest time has been this last year, being in the battle with myself. I’ve always been a guy that’s pretty free-spirited, just run in and bowled, but this year I’ve been in the battle with myself, and I’ve had to get back in that place where I’m thinking about the batsman.
“If I can ramp it up to the pace that makes me different to everyone else, but if I can add that with a little bit of skill that makes me hopefully one of the best around.”