Jones's return impresses Marsh

Simon Jones: back to form with ten wickets in the match © Getty Images

Simon Jones's comeback went as well as anyone dared hope. He took 10 for 88 in England A's win over Tamil Nadu, and came through the match without any serious side effects. Inevitably, his performance led to some pundits inking him in as a certainty to tour West Indies - but Rod Marsh, England A's coach, warned that there was still work to be done.

"His performances on this tour will decide whether he will go to the West Indies and he was very good in this match, albeit against not a full-strength side," Marsh explained. "His rhythm is not quite what it might be yet, but when that's right, he'll get even quicker and then he'll be able to trouble batsmen at any level.

"He probably bowled his two worst spells with the new ball, so we're perhaps learning that he's not a new-ball bowler," Marsh said. "Once the ball was older, he got it to reverse swing and really troubled the batsmen. But what was most heartening was his control. That's really come on in the last few months and it's been good on this tour."

Marsh was generally optimistic about the overall fast-bowling prospects. "There's a bit around at the moment," he said. "You've got Anderson, Harmison and Flintoff with the senior team, who are all relatively young, then Jones and Mahmood plus two good Under-19s in David Stiff and Liam Plunkett. It's an exciting prospect."

But he was less impressed with the performances of the batsmen on the tour so far. "There was some good cricket and there was some poor cricket," he said. "I still don't think the batting is up to the required standard - it was better than the one-day stuff, but there are not enough blokes prepared to work hard for their runs."

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