England coach Chris Silverwood will be ordering industrial quantities of cotton wool to wrap up Mark Wood until he can be unleashed on the Aussies.
The sight of Wood bowling like the wind in back to back Test matches for the first time since 2017 was one of the great plusses from a hugely successful South Africa tour.
He hadn't played a match since the World Cup final in which he tore his side, the latest in a long line of injuries.
That is why Silverwood is making Wood's fitness over the next two years a priority so that he can hopefully pair the Durham speedster with Jofra Archer in a fast bowling blitz Down Under.
"We have to take it day by day with Woody,” said Silverwood. “Monitor him and make decisions based on what is best for him.
"We have to look at the way he trains as well. We need to make sure he is not wasting his deliveries in the nets.
“He does everything 100 per cent so can we tailor his training to make sure his best efforts go out on the pitch?
"In an ideal world I would have two or three fast bowlers kicking around so they don't have to play every game, so that when they need a rest we have the back-up.”
Wood is not the only bowler set to come under Silverwood's watchful eye as he tries to build a battery of fast men to hit the Aussies with.
Silverwood added: "Craig Overton and Olly Stone are guys we are looking at for The Ashes, we have to nurture them and bring them through, it is a two-year project.
“We can look and say 'do we have to play them all at the same time? Can we rotate?'“
