‘Enzo’ eager to drive England to Tour success in Sri Lanka

ENGLAND newcomer Olly Stone may not relish his new nickname Enzo’, but the pace bowlern is eager to hit top gear on his maiden tour of Sri Lanka.

The uncapped 24-year-old enjoyed a dazzling season for Warwickshire in 2018, regularly breaching 90mph and becoming a prolific wicket-taker across all formats.

In seven championship games alone he took 43 scalps at 12.20, averaging a wicket every 22.3 deliveries. National selector Ed Smith saw enough in the seamer to believe he was playing a couple of notches below his level in Division Two and handed him a place in the forthcoming one-day series, as well as the subsequent Test contest.

Although he will be a rookie in both squads, hopes are unabashedly high that he can become the authentic fast bowler that was conspicuously lacking during last winter’s Ashes.

Stone’s director of cricket at Edgbaston, Ashley Giles, has urged England to take a cautious approach with a player who spent 18 months in recovery after snapping his anterior cruciate ligament in 2016 and settled on a colourful metaphor when news broke of his call-up.

“He’s a Ferrari,” said Giles. “If you’re expecting Olly to play every day and be at it, he’ll break down.”

The comment quickly made it back to the dressing room and, although he would rather shed the tag, Stone is happy to indulge England’s need for speed.

“There’s been a few little jokes with the Warwickshire lads calling me ‘Enzo’, but hopefully it won’t stick,” he said after joining up with his limited-overs teammates in Colombo. “I just try to run in and bowl as quick as I can all the time, which can be my downfall at times. But I guess it’s what got me here and it’s something I don’t want to go away from. I will go out there and give it my all.

“At (Vitality Blast) Finals Day last year I was in the low 90s, but I don’t really take too much notice, I just run in, let it go and hopefully it will come out well.”

Simply being on tour with England represents a considerable triumph for Stone, who admits to experiencing “dark times” in the depths of his injury worries.

He feared for his career before two major operations put him back on the right track.

“There were a few dark times along the way,” he said. “When it first happened they said I might never get back to where I was before I was injured.”