Comeback Man Mark Wood Hopes to Have Positive Impact Against Windies

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: January 19, 2019, 4:50 PM IST

England fast bowler Mark Wood is elated to have been brought back into the Test squad for the West Indies tour, a series which he believes the Three Lions are favourites to win.

Wood, whose last Test was against Pakistan in May 2018, was called-up after Olly Stone suffered a back injury.

"I’m over the moon," Wood told talkSPORT. "Obviously it’s not nice for Stoney. I’ve been in his position when you get injured and somebody else comes in to replace you, but his loss is my gain. Hopefully I can go out there and have a positive impact on the team."

Recalling his previous experience across the Atlantic, Wood cautioned against taking the hosts lightly.

"My first tour was actually to the West Indies with England," he said.

"Everyone was saying we should roll over them – ‘it will be 3-0’ – but we ended up drawing the series 1-1 and they played some pretty good cricket.

"They always get up for an England series and it will not be as easy as people think. But I do think we are favourites with the exciting squad we’ve got and the performances we’ve just put in in Sri Lanka. It’s not easy to win there, so if we can do that I’m sure we can win in the West Indies."

Wood earned himself a call-up after a good showing with the England Lions in UAE against Pakistan A across all formats.

With the 2019 World Cup coming up, Wood believes it is a good time to find form and get into the right frame of mind.

"For me personally, coming off the back of an England Lions' tour, I worked on a few things and started enjoying my cricket again. It's important that everyone enjoys their cricket this year, without putting too much pressure on ourselves or trying too hard – that will be to our downfall," he said.

"The things we've done well last year, the methods, if we continue that, we'll do pretty well. The World Cup, [rather than] just the last few months, it's been four years of preparations since the last one. It's a big time for the country."