Jamie is ready to go Port to Port!
Paul Hiscock watches an Essex bowler delight and a Sri Lanka legend come so close to greatness
New Zealand Test bowler Neil Wagner reckons Essex’s on-fire seamer Jamie Porter should be knocking on the door for England selection.
Porter has taken 16 wickets in Essex’s two Championship matches since they returned to red-ball cricket after qualifying for the One-Day Cup semifinal. He followed up his career-best five for 24 against Hampshire with another five-wicket haul in personal-best match figures of nine for 160 in this top-of-thetable draw against Surrey.
The 24-year-old ripped through Surrey’s second innings with five wickets in 27 balls on the final afternoon, and Wagner said: “If he can keep doing that game after game then he can throw his name in the hat and be there or thereabouts.”
Porter has taken 35 wickets in all cricket this season, and a clearly impressed Wagner said: “He is just one of those guys who wants the ball, he wants to run in and bowl all day long. “He hits the wicket hard and asks questions. He gets movement both ways and the batsman has to make a decision and play a shot.
“He puts the ball in the right areas for long periods of time and as a bowling unit we can create a lot of pressure from both ends.”
Porter is particularly effective with the new-ball as he showed in tandem with Matt Quinn when the pair had Surrey 31 for five on the first morning.
“He’s an exciting prospect,” said Wagner – New Zealand’s bowler of the year – of his Essex team-mate. “He’s got to keep backing up these performances every week and doing what he does for us – which is an outstanding job. The more he does that, the more he’ll push his case forward.
“He has fully deserved his success and there’s no reason why he can’t play for England.”
Talking of the National side, another Essex home-grown product, Dan Lawrence, is on the path to the top. At the start of the week, he was selected for England Lions to play South Africa A in their one-day series, and marked the occasion of being presented with his County Cap on the opening day of the match with Surrey by later completing a four-hour century.
One who Porter couldn’t dismiss was Kumar Sangakkara. The Sri Lankan legend bludgeoned 200 in the first innings to rescue Surrey and reach his fifth consecutive first-class century. He fell 18 runs short of making it six though.