England fast bowler Mark Wood has said he does not want to be rested during the Investec Ashes despite concerns about how his body will cope with the demands of a five-Test series. Wood has made a good impression as England's third seamer in his four Test appearances but picked up 1 for 131 at Lord's amid worries that he struggles with back-to-back matches.

Wood has had to deal with side and ankle injuries in recent times and has rarely played consecutive first-class fixtures for Durham. He admitted his pace was down during the second Test against Australia and said that was "something I'm going to have to address" but, after a rest period back home in the North East, he was bullish about being involved at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, when there will again be a three-day turnaround.

"I definitely don't want to miss games for England," he said. "We've had a little bit of rest time going into Edgbaston, then we've got Trent Bridge where famously I have played more first-class games than anywhere else, and done well there. I wouldn't want to miss either of these two games.

"We have got some good fast-bowling stocks and say the next fast bowler was to come in and take five wickets then I am out of the team and can't get back in, then being rested looks pretty stupid. I don't want to miss games."

Wood has to ice his ankle at the end of a day in the field and also uses heat patches for muscular pain relief - as well as the usual physio rub downs - but said that the coach, Trevor Bayliss, had not yet suggested the option of sitting out a Test.

"They have asked me how my body is and how I feel, without saying you're going to be rested," Wood said. "They've mentioned that my pace was down. At times when it is a flat pitch and people get in, you don't want to concede runs so you might bowl within yourself. I wasn't consciously down on pace, maybe it was tough on my body. There is only one way I am going to get better and that is by playing back-to-back Tests. I wouldn't want to give anyone else an opportunity - I want to cement that spot."

At the age of 25, Wood has only played 28 first-class games - three of which have been at Trent Bridge, second only to his home ground at Chester-le-Street - and never more than eight out of 16 in a Championship season for Durham. He has had a good run in 2015, however, playing in all but one fixture on the Lions trip to South Africa at the start of the year, before touring the Caribbean with England and then making his international debuts in all three formats at the start of the summer.

His ability to bowl consistently above 90mph risks being compromised by the demanding workload of international cricket, something England appeared to acknowledge when resting Wood for the first two ODIs against New Zealand following the Test series. Steven Finn is also in the 13-man squad for Edgbaston, where England could also consider playing Adil Rashid as a second spinner, but Wood is relishing the prospect of another Ashes double-header.

"It's tough. The intensity of things is different but it's something I feel I can handle," he said. "The New Zealand Tests were the same, back-to-back. I've been on Lions tours as well where there have been back-to-back games and I never missed a game. It's obviously different to Ashes cricket but I did it.

"My pace was down, which is something I'm going to have to address. But I've only played four Tests now and I'd say the more I play the better I'll get. I'm still relatively new and will take time to get used to back-to-back Tests. For me the positive at the minute is I've managed to come from the end of last season when I needed an operation and it was doom and gloom body wise to now having been available for selection throughout the summer and before in the West Indies."

The 405-run defeat at Lord's, which levelled the series at 1-1, left England with more issues to ponder than whether to rest a fast bowler. Wood said Bayliss wanted England's players to focus on their own game, rather than what Australia might do to them, as they attempt to regroup and win the third Test of an Ashes series for the first time since Headingley 1981.

"It was quiet," Wood said of the atmosphere in the dressing room. "There was disappointment after the game and then Trevor spoke well - he is very clear-cut in what he says. He spends more time in the background, in the shadows, and then when he speaks everyone listens. At the end of the game he said that basically it wasn't good enough, we've got to show more fight and forget about what's gone.

"We knew Australia were going to come back hard at us and he said maybe we thought about Australia too much in that second game. Whereas the first game in Cardiff we concentrated on ourselves more and I think that's what we've got to do against them in Birmingham."

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