Second Ashes Test at Lord’s: England rules out Mark Wood, Australia’s pace selection headache

England skipper Ben Stokes revealed on Tuesday that the hosts had wanted to play Wood - the nation’s fastest bowler - but that he was ruled out after a lack of preparation. Wood has instead been earmarked for the third Test at Headingley.

With both Wood and Jofra Archer out of contention, England picked Josh Tongue in what is a seam-heavy attack.

Australia was meanwhile weighing up the final composition of its attack, with Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland appearing to be battling for the final pace spot.

While the uncapped Lance Morris was ruled out of the tour, Australia has been able to call on Starc, Boland, Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for the start of the Ashes, something of a luxury for selectors.

“I’ve got no idea anything about his fitness in the last few months so it’s probably not right for me to comment,” Australian captain Cummins said of Wood’s situation.

“But I know how much work our team has put into, say someone like a Josh Hazlewood, he’s had a few injury worries but this has been the one over the last six months everything was to give him the best chance as possible to be right for this series. Think it’s really rare to have a full squad that’s fit and we are in a really lucky position. Some of that is probably luck but think a lot of that is also the incredible support team who you only really hear about when things go wrong but they’ve been fantastic to get everyone fit.”

Things were not always thus. Cut down by injury, Cummins went more than five years between his first and second Test appearances. The skipper appreciated that things tended to get easier as players matured, albeit Wood remains troubled by his body at 33.

“We’ve certainly got a lot more info over the years. Think probably the biggest difference is we are in our late 20s or early 30s,” Cummins said.

“Joshy, Mitch Starc, James Pattinson, myself all came onto the scene late teens early 20s when you are at your most risk but to be able to manage through that and reap the rewards now later in our careers has been huge. The amount of time, effort and investment put into sports science in Australia has been phenomenal. We are in such a lucky position that for five years I didn’t play but got the best support I could and hopefully it’s helped not just us but any cricketer around the world. I know India have come a long way, sure every country has come a long way in how they manage fast bowlers.”