Overton targets new-ball role with England after superb start to season with Somerset
CRAIG Overton had set his sights on becoming England’s regular new ball bowler after a challenging and often frustrating winter.
What a boost the 28-year-old pride of North Devon gave those hopes with a magnificent performance in the nerve-tingling onewicket County Championship defeat by Essex at Taunton last weekend.
Overton claimed career-best match figures of 13-87, bowling with sustained pace and accuracy to make the most of a seaming pitch. It was a tremendous effort that so nearly won the game virtually single-handed.
Now Craig is hoping to put a disappointing Ashes tour, in which he was not selected for any of the five Test Matches, behind him and build on regaining his England place during the trip to West Indies that followed. His recollections of the past six months make fascinating listening and offer an insight into how tough the life of an international cricketer can be.
“It proved a long winter,” he told me. “Australia was frustrating, but I knew going out there that I probably wasn’t going to play many games.
“When Ben Stokes was called up, the balance of the side meant we only had to play three specialist seamers and England were always going to go with the more senior bowlers.
“It was unlikely I would feature in the first three Tests. But I thought I might get a chance in the last two, depending on how things went and how the bodies of the other lads were standing up to the tour.
“I came pretty close to playing in the final one, but didn’t quite get the nod, which was disappointing.
“I then had Covid for ten days before the West Indies tour. I felt pretty good going out there, but I was undercooked from a bowling point of view.
“It was a bit of a rush to get ready and I went straight into a warm-up game in which I bowled 25 overs. I then bowled 40-odd in the first Test when I was still a bit tired from the flight.
“My body just shut down, probably as a result of the Covid lay-off, which is why I missed the second Test in Barbados. I tried bowling the day before it and almost fainted.
“I was fine again a couple of days later and felt I bowled okay in the Third Test. But the pitches out there were tough for seamers.
“It was the first time I had taken the new ball in Test cricket and that is something I definitely want to do in future.
“It’s the best time to bowl as a seamer. But I have only played
eight Tests and I don’t expect things to happen overnight.
“I realise I am going to be compared to the senior guys who have gone before me and the likes of
James Anderson and Stuart Broad are not easy acts to follow.
“The first target is to take wickets for Somerset and see where that gets me.
“But, with the England team in a state of transition and a lot of younger players being considered, it would be an exciting time to be involved.”