The England bowler Mark Wood is reportedly facing the prospect of missing the international season due to further surgery on his left ankle. The 26-year-old flew home from England’s series against Pakistan in November to have an operation to resolve a different problem with the troublesome ankle but it appears he will need to go under the knife again.

Wood had an injection earlier this month in an attempt to resolve the current problem with the back of his ankle, at the time admitting:

“

At some point, the back of my ankle will need to be operated on, that has been made pretty clear to me by England.

”

The injection has not had the desire effect, forcing him to pull out of a scheduled comeback for Durham’s second XI on Tuesday, instead visiting a specialist in the Netherlands.

Wood, who was handed his first central contract at the end of last summer following his impressive performances in the Ashes, has been hampered by a series of ankle problems throughout his career and with a lay-off of up to six months looming it would be unlikely that he features internationally this season with England beginning their first Test against Sri Lanka on 19 May and ending with a Twenty20 international against Pakistan in early September.