Wisden overview
Graeme Wood had the almost perverse faculty of succeeding when expected to fail, then failing when forecast to succeed. A trim, fluent left-handed opener with a penchant for the hook, he excelled in a weak side on his first tour of the West Indies, then disappointed against England at home and dropped from view. His reputation as a runner between wickets, in fact, never quite recovered from misadventures in that 1978-79 series. Surprisingly recalled for the Centenary Test at Lord's in August 1980, he made hundreds in consecutive matches followed by three successive ducks. Wood also scored a sterling hundred at Trent Bridge in July 1985, and another at Perth in December 1988 from No. 4, but lost his place for the final time after only one further Test. Gideon Haigh

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