England have suffered another major blow to their Ashes hopes with Mark Wood ruled out of the remainder of the series due to a left-knee injury. The 35-year-old quick, who picked up the issue during England’s eight-wicket defeat in the Perth opener, has suffered a recurrence of the problem that had sidelined him for much of the year. He missed the second Test at the Gabba and will now play no part in the final three matches, starting December 17 in Adelaide.
Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2025-26 Ashes series after suffering a fresh injury setback, coach Andrew McDonald confirmed on Tuesday (December 9). The right-arm quick had been recovering from a hamstring strain picked up during last month’s Sheffield Shield but aggravated his Achilles last week, ending any chance of featuring against England this summer. He will now target a return ahead of Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign in February.
Mark Wood faces another injury
Mark Wood will return home later this week to begin his rehabilitation under the ECB medical staff. The setback, after featuring in Perth for his first competitive game since knee surgery in February, is another in a career frequently interrupted by injury, and his age is likely to prompt fresh questions about his long-term England future.
England have drafted in Surrey seamer Matthew Fisher as Wood’s replacement. Fisher, currently in Australia with the Lions side, has taken two wickets across three games on tour, including that of Zak Crawley in a warm-up fixture at Lilac Hill.
The 28-year-old finished with 0/105 from 31 overs in the Lions’ recent innings defeat to Australia A in Brisbane. Fisher has played one Test so far, against West Indies in 2022, returning match figures of 1/21 in Antigua.
Josh Hazlewood unable to return
Josh Hazlewood isn’t fully fit and hence won’t be joining the Australian team for The Ashes. “Really flat for him,” McDonald said. “A couple of setbacks that we didn’t see coming. We thought he’d play a huge part in the series, so we really feel for him that he won’t get that opportunity.”
While Hazlewood’s absence forces a rethink of Australia’s pace plans for the final three Tests, the news is more upbeat for Pat Cummins, who is expected to resume the captaincy in next week’s Adelaide Test. Cummins has not played since July due to a lower-back injury but impressed during a series of match-simulation spells at Allan Border Field.
McDonald said the 32-year-old is on track to be added to Australia’s squad and to take over from Steve Smith. “There won’t be any match opportunities for Pat before Adelaide, but this is something we’ve done with him before long layoffs,” he said. “We feel as though he’ll be as best prepared as can be.”
Nathan Lyon is also tipped to return for the final three Tests after being left out of the pink-ball Test in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc, who leads the series with 18 wickets from two Tests, carried a minor left-side niggle through the Gabba but remains in no doubt for Adelaide. Australia are mindful of the tight turnaround between the last three matches, with Starc and Scott Boland having already delivered heavy workloads.
With Cummins and Lyon set to return, two of Boland, Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett are expected to miss in Adelaide, adding fresh pace options for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests. Jhye Richardson also remains a potential late-series consideration after bowling 26 overs for Australia A last week.
“The gap between the early Tests was something we thought we could manage,” McDonald said. “It’s probably more so in Tests four and five, but we’ve got a big inclusion coming and that will create a different balance to our attack.”