WE WILL BRING THE THUNDER DOWN UNDER
New bowling coach insists England’s rising stars have pace to win in Oz...
CHRIS Silverwood believes England will be able to fight fire with fire in the next Ashes in Australia after identifying a battery of potential 90mph men.
Silverwood began his role as England’s fast-bowling coach last week and, although his short- term objective is to support the one-day attack in the current Gillette Series against the Australians, his long-term aim is to develop individuals capable of matching Aussies Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
Injuries will inevitably restrict the development of some — fitness risks go with the territory — but last season’s County Championship-winning coach is optimistic that gems will emerge from the group of five young pacemen Sportsmail tipped for international futures last month — George Garton, 20, Josh Tongue, 20, Tom Helm, 23, Saqib Mahmood, 20, and Olly Stone, 24 — along with Craig Overton’s twin brother Jamie, 23, and Middlesex’s Tom Barber, 22.
Mark Wood, the fastest of England’s current crop, produced the kind of hostility missing during the Ashes series in his outstanding first spell in Sunday’s ODI win over the Aussies at the MCG, when he regularly hit the 90mph mark.
The Durham man turns 32 during the next Ashes Down Under in 2021-22 and Silverwood feels he could be back — with one or two younger team-mates.
‘Garton and Overton stand out for being fast and aggressive,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen it on the county scene with Jamie. He’s in your face, not shy of bowling his bouncer — and he’s got a lot of fight about him.
‘There is pace in English cricket. Part of our role is to nurture them and progress them into Test cricket.
‘Fast bowling is hard work. The guys are out there and some of them are young. We have to give them time to develop. There’s no magic wand. Our job is to provide the environment for them to develop and improve.’
That environment does come with restrictions, however. With the County Championship now played increasingly in blocks at the start and end of summers, the challenge is to find four-day cricket in the drier midsummer conditions that promote spin and genuine pace.
‘It’s about getting fast bowlers learning their trade and getting their bodies robust enough to take the day-to-day pounding,’ said Silverwood.
‘Can we find solutions where maybe we send them away in the winter — to Sri Lanka, for argument’s sake. Can they learn to bowl in that environment?
‘It’s not easy to bowl fast or everyone would be doing it.’
Fast bowling certainly strains the body: Wood had three ankle operations in his mid-20s, Jamie Overton missed the second half of the 2017 season with a stress fracture and Tongue is to have an ankle operation this week. NATHAN LYON is in talks with Nottinghamshire as Australia’s Ashes winners seek to increase their experience of English conditions before next year’s return series. Off-spinner Lyon, 30, spent part of last summer with Worcestershire.