Sam Wood, born in Nottingham on 3 April 1993, was on the fringes of the first team for the five years he was at Trent Bridge, without ever quite securing a regular spot. Educated at Col Frank Seely School in Calverton, Sam, a left-handed bat, made his debut for Nottinghamshire in the Clydesdale Bank trophy (as the 40-over competition was at that time) against Essex in 2011 and made three other List-A appearances that season, his right-arm off break bowling being more effective than his batting.
He made his First-Class debut that season as well, in slightly unusual circumstances; Sam was not selected for the County Championship match against Lancashire at Trent Bridge but was drafted into the side from the third day when Samit Patel was called up to the England squad preparing for a series against Sri Lanka.
Wood played only two more First-Class games for his home county, making a total of 77 runs, 45 being his best score, and taking three wickets at 30.66. He played more often in limited-overs cricket, playing in 13 List-A games and 24 T20s; in the former he made 64 runs at 9.14 and took six wickets at 35.16 and in T2O games managed 94 runs at 11.75, with five wickets at 36.20.
His most regular and most successful cricket was at youth level for England. He played in two Under-19s Test Matches against Sir Lanka in that summer of 2011 with a top score of 130 to give him a highly respectable average of 83.33. He also made one century in Under-19s ODIs – 104 against the West Indies in the Under-19 World Cup fifth place play-off in Townsville, Australia, one of his 29 ODIs.
Sam Wood has played Minor Counties cricket since 2016, representing Lincolnshire and, latterly, Cornwall in the Championship and Trophy competitions.
After leaving the professional game, Sam Wood worked initially in a family-owned knitting factory but has since re-trained as an HGV driver with a company based in North Nottinghamshire.
November 2022
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 616