Mark Wood looks back on his fastest and most memorable bowling spells

Mark Wood retired from cricket on Tuesday, closing out a career widely regarded as featuring the fastest bowling by an England player on record. Despite being hampered repeatedly by injuries, Wood built one of the most exciting England careers in recent years, becoming a two-time World Cup winner and an Ashes winner.

Across his first 12 Test matches, Wood averaged 41.73 with the ball. On the advice of West Indies great Michael Holding, he then lengthened his run-up, using it for the first time in the third Test against West Indies in Saint Lucia in 2019, where he took 5-41 in the first innings — a spell he later described as a breakthrough moment and the fastest of his career.

Wood's best match figures, 9-100, came in the fourth Test against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2020, where he averaged 89.1mph and helped England to a 191-run win. He also recalled dismissing Rassie van der Dussen for 98 using a bouncer plan the team had set up in advance.

At the end of the 2021-22 Ashes series, despite England losing the final Test in Hobart, Wood took his best figures of the tour, 6-37 in the second innings, earning praise from Australia coach Justin Langer afterwards.

Wood is likely to be remembered most for his 5-34 in the first innings of the third Ashes Test at Headingley in 2023, when Australia led the series 2-0. Bowling at an average of 90.4mph on the first day, he produced an electric spell that turned the series around, which ultimately finished level at 2-2. It was also the first time his parents watched him take five wickets in person.