HAMPSHIRE’S Chris Wood admits he almost followed Reece Topley in giving up on red-ball cricket during his injury nightmare.

The left-arm seamer suffered cartilage damage in his left knee in 2012 and had similar problems in his right leg before undergoing surgery two years ago.

Topley will only play in one-day competitions for Hampshire in 2018.

But academy graduate Wood played his first Specsavers County Championship match since May 2016 at Surrey two weeks ago and claimed the scalp of Alastair Cook yesterday.

“I definitely considered only playing white ball because of the demands red-ball cricket has on the body,” Wood revealed.

“It crossed my mind numerous times over the last few years where I’ve tried to play a day’s cricket in the second team, tried to bowl 15 overs and then woken up the next day and my body just hurts.

“I asked myself ‘Was it worth it?’And would it prolong my career if I just played white-ball cricket? But being the person I am and wanting to prove other people and myself wrong I wanted to get to the stage where I am now.

“In the red-ball game I feel some people have started to think ‘Woody is predominately a white-ball bowler now, we can’t see him playing red-ball cricket from now on’ or ‘his body just doesn’t seem to be able to do it’.

“It was quite interesting before the game as I had a couple of tweets where fans were saying ‘wow I can’t believe I can see Chris Wood’s name on the team sheet, it has been such a long time’.It gave me a massive boost.

“A couple of people have written me off in four-day cricket and said I’m a long way behind and that I have a lot to do.

“I’d like to think that now I have played I have shut up a few doubters and hopefully I now get a few more games and repay the faith of everyone who has stuck by me.”

To help combat any potential future trips to the surgeon, Wood completely remodelled his bowling action over the winter to take the stress away from his knees.

The 27-year-old said: “Whether it will help my body, no-one knows, but I felt it was time to try something.

“I got to the stage where the bowling coach thought it would make me a better bowler anyway. If it takes a load off my body, why not?

“It took a lot of work in the winter and I had to take a step back in Barbados because I went back to old habits.

“So when we got back I stayed away from the lads for a while to make sure this new action was ready for the season.”