LEFT FOR DEAD

Sidebottom bemoans the lack of southpaws for England

ENGLAND have been told to take a punt and add some muchneeded variety to a bowling attack that has badly struggled away from home.

There has been no room for the extra pace of Mark Wood this winter, and there has been no left-arm quick bowler in the side for eight years.

Mitchell Starc and now Trent Boult (below) have used their left-arm angles to devastating effect this winter, while Starc’s footmarks did Nathan Lyon’s off-spin no harm either.

If it wasn’t for James Anderson’s prolific wicket-taking exploits England would be lost in Test cricket, and as things stand, they are finding things difficult enough as it is on foreign soil.

And former left-arm fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom, who took 24 wickets and was man of the series when Anderson and Stuart Broad first played together out here, believes it is a crying shame he remains the last of his kind to play Test cricket for England.

“I don’t know why we haven’t been able to produce a left-arm seam bowler for Test cricket,” said Sidebottom.

“They are dangerous and I would love to see one pushing for a place. It has been disappointing not to see a left-armer in Test cricket for England since I finished and maybe they’ve missed a trick.

“The big thing in Australia was England lacked variety in their bowling attack, it was all much of a muchness – just take a punt.”

Anderson disagreed, suggesting there was enough of a difference between the right-arm fast-medium pace of himself, Broad, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton to be successful.

“We’ve had brilliant bowling attacks in the past that are very similar but each bowler has brought different subtleties,” said Anderson.

“I think we’ve got plenty of variation to be able to take 20 wickets.”

Only 23 overs were possible at Eden Park on day two of the first Test due to rain and only one wicket fell to Anderson when he trapped Kane Williamson lbw for 102, who had become New Zealand’s most successful century-maker with 18. Both teams were visited by British pop star Ed Sheeran during the day ahead of his live dates in Auckland, but it remains to be seen how much use he has for the bat given to him by Wood.

Ireland missed out on reaching next year’s World Cup – the first time since 2003 they have failed to qualify – after suffering an agonising five-wicket defeat to Afghanistan in Harare.

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