Mark Wood sidelined for the rest of the year due to elbow injury

Mark Wood, England's fastest bowler, will unfortunately be sidelined for the upcoming Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. This is due to a bone-stress injury to his right elbow, which has ruled him out for the remainder of the year.

Wood was withdrawn from the ongoing Sri Lanka series as a precaution, after suffering a right thigh strain while bowling during the first Test at Old Trafford. However, he subsequently underwent what he had hoped was a routine elbow scan, after feeling discomfort in the joint, and admitted in an Instagram post that he had received some "pretty rubbish news".

"During what I thought was routine check on a previously troublesome elbow, I was shocked to learn I've got some bone stress in my right elbow," Wood wrote.

As a result, he will miss England's final six Tests of the year, three each against Pakistan in October and New Zealand in December.

He will continue to work closely with the ECB medical team in the meantime, with the aim of returning to full fitness by early 2025, in time for England's white-ball tour of India and the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, which is scheduled to begin in February 2025.

More to follow...