| You are in: Cricket: England |
| England's bowling riches ![]() Hoggard is happy to be England's new spearhead It is known across sport as an 'enviable dilemma' for managers and coaches - namely how to fit 14 or 15 top players into a team of 11. But that is precisely what England's cricket captain and coach are faced with as they seek to incorporate Darren Gough, Andy Caddick and Alex Tudor into a bowling side which is already bursting at the seams with talent. Gough will definitely not be fit for the next Test at Trent Bridge, starting 8 August, but Caddick and Tudor may be, so what happens if they are? Before the Lord's Test, many commentators were highly worried about England's attack and doubted they would be able to bowl out what is considered one of the finest batting line-ups twice. But one thing observers have consistently commented on during England's fine bowling performance against India is the variety which they have produced as a unit.
Matthew Hoggard, although he is still relatively new to Test cricket, is advancing up the world rankings in impressive style. In terms of quality, he is the best of the four seamers who were on display at Lord's. He is also developing the happy knack of taking two or more wickets quickly. A habit picked up in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he was man of the match, he again began taking wickets in clutches against Sri Lanka. The coup de grace, of course, was getting Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly out with successive balls on Sunday. Simon Jones, as an exponent of raw pace, has the ability to unsettle batsmen who have got used to the slightly less speedy pair of Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff. He gave Tendulkar a torrid time in the first innings and his ball to dismiss the highly-talented Virender Sehwag on Sunday must rank as one of the most satisfying wickets for an English fan to see in many a year.
Sehwag was bowled neck and crop through the gate - his off-stump cartwheeling in geometrically-pleasing splendour. Craig White, perversely, often does better on pitches which would not normally suit seam bowlers. He proved that in Sri Lanka a year-and-a-half ago, and his bowling on Saturday to Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar was exemplary. White, presumably helped by playing so much cricket with Yorkshire team-mate Darren Gough, is a great exponent of reverse swing. And he was bowling with plenty of intelligence when setting full-of-a-length balls outside off stump which swung in to the right-handers. With a packed off-side field, scoring opportunities were limited and, frustrated, Tendulkar finally edged one behind to Alec Stewart. England made a bad mistake by not playing Ashley Giles in the first Test of the summer - the only one of four so far that they have failed to win - and they will not make that error again. While Giles has not been at his very best all the time, he rose to the occasion on the last day of the Old Trafford Test against Sri Lanka. Flintoff is the key all-rounder, so must stay, which presumably means that if Alex Tudor is fit again for Trent Bridge, he would replace White. Tudor, lest we forget, was man of the match in the last Test he played, at Old Trafford. And if Caddick is fit in time for the second Test, then there really is a puzzle to solve. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | ||
------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |