With James Anderson retiring after 21-year Test career, which bowlers will take England forward in red-ball game? Gus Atkinson dazzles on debut, Dillon Pennington hoping to make first appearance and Jofra Archer earmarked for the 2025/26 Ashes - but is there a way back for Ollie Robinson?
Tuesday 16 July 2024 06:20, UK
After 21 years, 188 games and 704 wickets, England are entering the post-James Anderson era.
With the 41-year-old shuffling off into the backroom staff as bowling mentor, captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum must now construct a Test match pace attack without him in it.
That will begin at Trent Bridge in Nottingham from Thursday as England look to wrap up a series win over West Indies, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am (first ball at 11am).
Here, we look at the seamers England may rely on in the future, with the focus squarely on the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia…
Atkinson enjoyed a dream debut during Anderson's farewell Test at Lord's, taking 12 wickets in the game including the match-winning one. The 26-year-old is not going to be a like-for-like replacement for Anderson - except in possibly how shy he is - with the Surrey seamer's strength pace rather than swing, but he still showed he can move the ball during his wicket-laden bow. Sky Sports Cricket's Nasser Hussain was also impressed with Atkinson's accuracy, while Stokes has suggested the new boy could take the new ball in future.
Woakes' selection is curious if the main goal is regaining the Ashes. He turns 36 next year and has never been able to replicate his success in England with the Dukes ball (114 wickets in 29 Tests at an average of 22.04) when he travels away and largely bowls with the Kookaburra (36 wickets in 20 games at 51.88). It is perhaps hard to see Woakes being in Australia for the Ashes, let alone in the XI - although that is what he is targeting - but perhaps England are keeping him around to be the leader of the attack at home and for the valuable runs he offers batting at No 8.
With the second West Indies Test taking place at Pennington's new home of Trent Bridge - he made the switch to Nottinghamshire from Worcestershire over the winter - he will be hopeful of an England debut. The 25-year-old stands at 6ft 4in tall, operates in the mid-80s in miles per hour, and has grabbed 31 wickets in eight County Championship games this season. Stuart Broad said: "Batters have told me he hits the bat harder than you would expect. He gets good bounce and has an action that is difficult to find rhythm against."
Potts burst onto the international scene in the opening Bazball summer of 2022, taking 14 wickets in three Tests against New Zealand at an average of 23.28 and then six wickets combined across games versus India and South Africa. The Durham man, whose attitude and athleticism Stokes admires, has only played one Test since - against Ireland last summer - and is yet to feature overseas. However, he bagged 16 wickets in three games for England Lions against India A in the subcontinent last winter and feels he is now a more well-rounded bowler and an option away from home.
Wood has been added to England's squad for the second West Indies Test having been rested for the first following the T20 World Cup. The 34-year-old was handed a three-year central contract in late 2023 and England surely see their fastest bowler as a vital cog for the Ashes, with the paceman taking 17 wickets in four Tests on the largely forgetable 2021/22 tour. Playing that many games left him "knackered, wrecked and exhausted" so don't expect a repeat in 2025/26 but fitness-permitting - which is always the issue with Wood - he should be among the battery of quicks.
Fingers crossed… England are understandably treading carefully with Archer after a rotten run with injuries. He is on a white-ball-only diet for now and will not play Test cricket until 2025, with the plan to pit him against India at home before unleashing him on Australia the following winter. Archer's first experience of Test cricket was the 2019 home Ashes when he took 22 wickets at 20.27, hitting Steve Smith on the head and truly launching the Test career of Marnus Labuschagne as the latter stepped up as a concussion replacement for the former. Australia may not relish facing him again.
If England want someone in the Anderson mould, Essex's Cook is the chief candidate. A hamstring strain dented his hopes of a Test debut at Lord's but he is back playing for his county now and may come into consideration later in the summer. Cook, with 294 first-class wickets at an average below 20, does not possess the speed of some other players on this list but made the Kookaburra ball talk while other bowlers struggled when it was used in county cricket earlier this term, taking a 10-wicket match haul at Nottinghamshire.
Continued warnings about his fitness - seemingly unheeded - and an unwanted habit of his speeds dropping late on in spells and series have seen Robinson slip down the pecking order. England would be wise not to part ways permanently with him, though, as the assets are certainly there. Height, a metronomic action, the ability to nip the ball both ways and a Test record of 76 wickets in 20 matches at 22.92. Much was made of the record 43 runs he shipped for Sussex in a County Championship over this season but he also has 27 wickets, a greater yardstick of where he is at. Still just 30, there is time for a comeback. But it appears he has some making up to do.
Durham's Brydon Carse, who can reach speeds of 90mph, will be available again later in the summer once his betting ban elapses.
Nottinghamshire's Josh Tongue, impressive last year against Ireland and in a sole Ashes Test, is currently sidelined by a pectoral issue but will hope to return to the Test side once fit. He's another 90mph guy.
Tongue's Notts team-mate and fellow speedster Olly Stone is another player England may have factored into their Ashes planning, while a possible bolter may be Somerset's Kasey Aldridge.
Aldridge, 23, generates good pace and bounce from a 6ft 4in frame and while his first-class bowling average of 36.92 hardly stands out, England pay little attention to numbers if they like someone.
It's ability and character that counts so don't rule him out.
Watch day one of the second Test between England and West Indies, from Trent Bridge in Nottingham, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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