In a world of media training and fast-medium England Test bowling attacks, Mark Wood has always ploughed a delightfully non-linear furrow.

A quick and quirky teetotaller with a bizarre run-up, an imaginary horse and an almost unique ability to answer interview questions in interesting and unexpected ways, Wood is a cricketer many of us can really get behind.

He took the wicket that clinched the 2015 Ashes and while that series didn’t necessarily show him at his best, most of us imagined that this moment would be just one of many within a whole Mark Wood Ashes montage come the end of his career. Stumps would fly, characterless anthemic rock would play and Wood would aeroplane around in celebration with a great giddy grin plastered across his face.

But as things stand, it’s worth asking whether he’ll ever actually get the opportunity to play another Test against Australia? The answer is probably not. How do you feel about that?

“Test cricket is the format I want to play,” says Wood elsewhere in that Guardian interview – but he will be 30 after the 2019 Ashes and will have barely any more first-class cricket to his name.

That really could be it for him, Test-wise.

For the third time, I ask: how do you feel about that?

Wood has played 10 Tests and taken 26 wickets at an average of 40.65, so the Earth hasn’t exactly been knocked off its axis by his performances. But it’s worth pointing out that after twice as many Tests, James Anderson averaged 39.20 and Stuart Broad averaged 40.21.

Being as County Championship matches are outranked by both international one-day cricket and the IPL, it’s hard to see how Wood can ever again make a realistic case to play the longest format.

The Ashes or the World Cup? When we see Mark Wood carrying the drinks in Auckland sporting the hi-vis tabard of squad membership, we’ll know which option we’ve been presented with.