England told their misuse of Mark Wood in the Ashes has 'come back to haunt them'

Steve Harmison has warned England that making Mark Wood bowl "dead overs" during the Ashes has contributed to him picking up an elbow injury during the first Test against the West Indies.

Wood has had his fair share of injury problems in the past and has never had a winter as busy as this one, with the 32-year-old playing in four tests in Australia before getting picked in Antigua.

Previously, the most tests Wood has played in a single winter is just two and he bowled more than half of his overs during the Ashes after England had already lost the series.

Mark Wood suffered an elbow injury in the first Test between England and the West Indies (Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

In the fourth Test in Sydney, Wood bowled a total of 41.1 overs in the match, his third-highest workload in his Test career and Harmison was critical of Root's decision to keep bowling him at the time.

"To have your strike bowler bowling overs when they're setting up a declaration, when they've got a bit of an injury track record and background anyway, I just think it's madness," Harmison said on commentary for BT Sport during that Test.

And the former England bowler believes those "dead overs" have contributed to Wood getting injured in Antigua.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Harmison said: "He bowled a lot [in Sydney] and I remember thinking that we’re going to need him further down the line. He just kept bowling dead overs.

"England play a lot of cricket and there’s no preparation time going into each tour. So you’ve got to be careful how you use people and the rest periods in between and when they start going again.

Steve Harmison believes the way Wood was utilised during the Ashes has contributed to his latest injury setback (2019 Getty Images)

"He has bowled a lot, it’s been a while since he’s been injured, and he’s missed a lot of cricket.

"So, those dead overs in Sydney, I wouldn’t say they’re coming back to haunt the England cricket team now, but I don’t think that has helped his body going into this series.

"Especially when you’ve only got one Ferrari and you’ve left a couple of Bentley’s [in Broad and James Anderson] at home!"

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