AS one Ashington Express remains in the sidings, the new one signed a three-year contract extension for Durham yesterday.

Mark Wood may not be quite as quick as Steve Harmison in his pomp, but he has been clocked at 90mph in two televised YB 40 matches.

He has signed on until the end of the 2016 season, while Mark Stoneman has signed for two more years after becoming an established member of the team in all forms of the game. He has also taken over the 40-over captaincy from the injured Dale Benkenstein.

Wood, 23, is also a useful batsman, as he showed in making 58 not out in the recent win at Trent Bridge, the ground on which he made each of his first three championship appearances.

"I joked afterwards with the lads that I'd see them there next year," he said.

"It's strange how it came about that way, but I do like playing there.

"When I took five wickets there last season it was mainly through reverse swing and the ball was going really late.

"I prefer normal swing because you pretty much know how far it's going to go, but I'm happy to be known for reverse swing because it's an asset on good batting pitches and it brings me into the game.

"If you can reverse it at pace and it goes late it can be tough for the batsman to deal with. It happens on dry, abrasive pitches once the ball has got scruffy on one side, usually after about 40 overs.

"It doesn't happen so much on the greener pitches at Riverside and after Trent Bridge last year Paul Collingwood told me he wanted to go back to fielding the four seamers who had done well at home. It was disappointing but it was fair enough."

Since Trent Bridge this year Wood has also played in the win at the Oval and the rain-ruined draw at home to Middlesex. He has also become a regular in the YB 40 side and said: "The white ball tends to reverse earlier, usually after about 25 overs. We've started to shine the white ball on one side this season, which I hadn't known before."

Wood began to play in Ashington Under 11s and was inspired by Harmison.

"Our dads are big friends," he said. "When I was growing up Steve was playing for England and he was often around the club. He was someone I looked up to and he's always ready with advice for any of the young players at Durham."

Wood had broken into the Northumberland senior side by the time he was 17, when Durham took him into their academy.

His father, Derek, was an opening batsman for Ashington, as was his uncle Neil, who also played for Northumberland.

"As a boy I used to bowl at them in the back garden," he said. "If I was a bit off they would whack me. When I first started I was more of a batsman and I still want to contribute with the bat.

"I joked with Graham Onions that we would put 50 on at Trent Bridge and we did. He had just said to me that he'd got his eye in when he got out."

Explaining his unusual run-up, he said: "It used to be longer and I had some no-ball trouble, so I did some work on it with the academy coach, John Windows, and the bowling coach, Alan Walker.

"They said because I'm a whippy bowler I needed an explosive start like a sprinter, so that's what I've developed. I get into my run-up quickly and everything flows from there.

"I don't have a big build for a fast bowler so I think I surprise some people with how quickly the ball gets on to them.

"It was tough on the spinners' pitch at the Oval - I just had to keep plugging away and try to keep the runs down. When I was bowling I thought it would be a good pitch to bat on, but I was given out caught behind when I didn't think I'd touched it "Then in my home debut against Middlesex I had no luck in the first innings but took three wickets in the final session, when we tried to give it everything. We would have won that match easily but for the rain."