England dilemma no.6 – pace or precision?

In 2005 England’s third and fourth seamers did more than anyone else, except perhaps Michael Vaughan, to win the Ashes. In the three key Tests, at Edgbaston, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge, Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones took 30 wickets between them, while Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, armed with the new ball, took 17. They never allowed the Aussies off the hook. Now, Jones is a non-starter and Flintoff is not yet back from injury. And this is one area where England’s replacements have struggled.

The reserve fourth seamers, Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood, can be a little flaky. Mahmood has pace and bounce and sometimes swing, but little accuracy. Plunkett has more control but less of the pace, bounce and swing, and his action gets the ex-players tut-tutting. As an international bowler, neither is quite there.

In the one-day series against Pakistan, England had to field a complete second-choice attack – Broad, Lewis, Mahmood, Dalrymple and Yardy rather than Anderson, S Jones, Harmison, Flintoff, and Giles. And they did quite well. Jon Lewis and Stuart Broad, especially, worked as a pairing – one classically English, with his nippy awayswing, the other shaping as a mini-McGrath, with bounce and seam movement. Actually not that mini: at 6 ft 6, he’s still growing. And he is already hard to get away.

Duncan Fletcher doubts whether Lewis is fast enough for Test cricket outisde England, which makes you wonder if he ever saw Terry Alderman or Damien Fleming in action. Lewis is in just that mould – nagging, swinging, testing, non-military medium, capable of outwitting the best players. If Jimmy Anderson is fit, I’d pick him and Lewis. If not, take Broad. But don’t be surprised if the selectors stick with Mahmood and Plunkett, the devils they know.