27.3.07

Attrition

An interesting article in The Times by Christopher Martin-Jenkins, arguing that no other country currently has as much young seam bowling talent as England.

I like Plunkett (but he's still got plenty to do); Anderson, when fit, looks to be getting back to where he was a few years ago; Mahmood continues to look unconvincing to me and I've hardly seen Onions. I have, however, seen plenty of Stuart Broad, who could be the best of the lot.

CMJ may be right, but, given the historic attrition rate among young English seamers, it'll be interesting to see where all these bowlers are in five years' time.
Posted by at 1:39 PM
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4 comments:

Homer said...

I am looking forward to seeing Stuart Broad and hopefully Simon Jones when India travel to your shores later this year.

6:32 PM
Brian Carpenter said...

Thanks, Homer. I'm not sure what the state of Simon Jones' fitness is at the moment but it would be good to have him back. Broad could be world class - Time will tell...

6:45 PM
Homer said...

Brian, India comes to the Old Blighty in the latter half of the English summer. Given the weather conditions prevalent then, how effective do you think Stuart Broad will be? ( from what I have heard or read about him, he is more in the mould of Flintoff than Hoggard). Jones was impressive in the Ashes - he was THE guy( except for THAT one over by Flintoff in the second test).
Secondly, will the selectors punt on Stuart Broad for the test series?

10:34 PM
Brian Carpenter said...

Broad had a good season last year and had a pretty good tour of Bangladesh with England A so I would say he's a definite contender for the side. If he takes more wickets in the first month of the season than most of the other contenders (Harmison included) then he could well be picked against West Indies. Of course, that could mean that he's out of the side by the time India arrive!

What I like about him is that he's got a much better, more orthodox basic action than Plunkett (and probably Mahmood) and he also shows signs that he could develop into a better batsman than either (good genes). He tends to skid the ball through at fairly high pace (85 mph+)and can move the ball through the air and off the pitch, generally away. A younger Jason Gillespie wouldn't be a bad comparison.

1:24 PM

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