Luke Wood

Luke Wood, a left-arm pace bowler with the priceless ability to swing the ball back into the right-handers, joined Lancashire at the end of the 2019 season in search of a more regular first-team place after spending time in and out of the Nottinghamshire side. Several other counties were interested, but Lancashire were keen to sign a left-armer and the prospect of game time in all formats proved irresistible.

His first season at the club was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, though he bowled impressively throughout the T20 Blast to take Lancashire to the semi-finals. But at the start of 2021, he looked ready to make a significant impact across formats, swinging the red ball and cracking a Championship hundred from No. 8 against Kent.

Wood made great strides in 2015 as he joined two other Nottinghamshire quicks, Brett Hutton and Jake Ball, in a breakthrough season. He played 11 Championship matches, taking 30 wickets, and earned a place on an ECB fast-bowling camp in South Africa.

Remarkably, even by his own mind, he also lodged a maiden Championship hundred in only his eighth innings, happily rated by his director of cricket, Mick Newell, as the "most remarkable I have ever seen in first-class cricket". Put in by Sussex on a green Trent Bridge pitch, Notts collapsed to 98 for 7, at which point Wood, fresh from a pair in his previous match, hit a century from 105 balls with 10 fours and six sixes, an innings buzzing with youthful optimism as wild flails gave way to resounding connections. He scored his last 28 runs at nine wickets down, protecting No. 11 Harry Gurney from the strike.

Wood had the distinction of winning a T20 Blast medal two years in succession for two different counties, firstly for Nottinghamshire in a treble-winning year in 2017 and then on loan with Worcestershire the following summer.
ESPNcricinfo staff