Born East Fremantle, W.A.
6 November, 1956
A neat left-handed batsman, Graeme Wood made his first-class debut for Western Australia at the WACA Ground against the touring MCC side in March 1977, making scores of 37 and 1. It was a relatively inauspicious start to a long and distinguished career that would span a total of 227 first-class matches, during which he compiled 13,353 runs at an average of 39.98.
With the absence of Bruce Laird, who joined World Series Cricket in the late- 1970’s, Wood became a regular opener for Western Australia. Following centuries against Queensland and South Australia in his first full season, he made his Test debut against India in Adelaide in 1977/78, after just eight first-class matches. On the 1978 tour of the West Indies, he scored his maiden Test century, 126 at Georgetown, where he added 251 for the fourth wicket with fellow West Australian, Craig Serjeant.
After a poor tour of India in 1979, and the return of the Packer players, he lost his place in both the West Australian and Australian teams. He fought his way back into the State team, and then the Test side. At the 1980 Centenary Test at Lord’s he made 112. He followed up with centuries against New Zealand and India during the 1980/81 summer. A superb driver of the ball through the off-side, he earned the nickname “Kamikaze Kid”, for his occasionally erratic running between the wickets.
Wood’s Test career stagnated after the 1985 tour of England, despite a fine 172 (his highest Test score) at Trent Bridge. After losing favour with the national selectors, he was appointed captain of Western Australia in 1985/86. Under his leadership, the state claimed three consecutive Sheffield Shield titles and two domestic one-day trophies. In 1987/88, he became the first West Australian batsman to score 1,000 Shield runs in a season, including the highest first-class score, 186 not out against South Australia. He earned a recall tot eh Australian team for the home series against the West Indies in 1988/89, scoring 111 in the second Test at the WACA Ground, batting at number four. He played just one more Test before being omitted for the last time.
In late 1989/90, he was controversially removed from the state captaincy after an upheaval within the team. He played his last game for Western Australia in 1991/92. In all he played 59 Tests, scoring 3,374 runs at 31.83 with nine centuries, along with 82 one-day internationals in which he scores 2,218 runs at 33.6 with three centuries. For Western Australia, he scored 24 centuries and compiled 7,958 runs at 46.53. With John Inverarity, he jointly holds the record of captaining the state in 47 Sheffield Shield matches.