Flying Footitt targets England
It was not until Mark Fo ot i t t checked his twitter feed that he realised the impact he was having on the start of the new county season.
april in England tends to be about light showers and gentle breezes, but Footitt’s performance against warwickshire at the Oval — more like hailstones and tornadoes — had a biblical ferocity.
In 32 balls of left- arm mayhem, he took six wickets for three runs and removed five men for ducks, including Jonathan trott and Ian Bell, who boast more than 11,500 test runs between them. surrey won by an innings.
then, on Friday against Lancashire, Footitt was at it again, knocking over the highly- rated trio of alex Davies, Liam Livingstone and Dane Vilas en route to a hard-earned five-for.
with county cricket now properly embracing the value of social media highlights, it meant his deeds were not limited to the several hundred fans who turned up in south London to cheer on him and surrey.
County cricket has long suffered from an old philosophical conundrum: if no one sees you knock over trott and Bell in the same over, did it happen? But twitter was instantly abuzz with talk of Footitt’s late inswinger to trott, and a delivery to Bell that pitched around leg stump before squaring him up and inducing a prod to second slip. the rest of warwickshire’s line-up were powerless to resist. within no time, they were 48 for eight.
‘It was nice to get all the messages,’ said Footitt. ‘ It means you know people are watching cricket — and makes you realise how many people follow the game.’
the frisson is understandable. Left-arm fast bowling has assumed an almost mythical air in English cricket after Mitchell Johnson bowled australia to an ashes whitewash in 2013-14.
Footitt will turn 32 during the first ashes test at Brisbane in November, but cites the example of his county captain Gareth Batty, who was picked for England’s tours of Bangladesh and India last winter at the age of 39. ‘age,’ he insists, ‘ is just a number.’ the work Footitt put in over the winter supports his theory. Urged on by surrey’s new strength and conditioning coach Rob ahmun, he fed off a diet of running — to the extent that he began the new season ‘feeling like 19 again’.
and when the insatiable shivnarine Chanderpaul made surrey sweat in the field, adding 243 for the seventh wicket with Jordan Clark, Footitt was grateful for ahmun’s advice.
‘when you’re bowling 30-odd overs but still running in at 90 per cent in your first over and your last, it helps,’ he said.
a modest type, he is reluctant to get carried away with talk of a test debut, but his experience on tour with England in south africa in 2015-16 has left him with a desire to go one better.
‘England are quite a hard side to get into at the moment, but anyone who goes on a test tour and doesn’t play a game has a sense of unfinished business.
‘If you’re getting test-match quality batsmen out, like I did against warwickshire, it gives you massive confidence.
‘the Oval can be like a test wicket, and you learn every game when you’re bowling on flatter wickets. If England did happen then I’d be ready.’
and that spell of six for three? ‘For me, it’s right up there,’ he said. ‘the ball was swinging, there was bounce and pace — and a bit of luck.’
If, as many sport stars believe, you make your own luck, then Footitt has already established himself as this summer’s man to watch.