If England were going to he hammered with a run of injuries to their fast bowlers it’s better now than when they tour Australia in an attempt to defend the Ashes on enemy territory at the other end of the year.
The fact that paceman Ryan Sidebottom has been booked a one-way ticket home from Bangladesh after picking up a thigh injury in England’s first One-Day International match against Bangladesh at Mirpur serves to give another fast bowler a chance to throw his name in the hat as a regular in the Test line-up.
Seamer Stuart Broad is another who has been forced to watch the end of the ODI series from the sidelines, as he battles back problems. And then there’s Graham Onions, another paceman, who is not in the ODI squad for Bangladesh but was named in the Test squad for the tour. Both Broad and Onions are awaiting the results of MRI scans to determine just how serious their back complaints actually are.
It might not have been in team director Andy Flower’s original plans to throw Liam Plunkett and Yorkshire seamer Ajmal Shahzad into the mix in the ODI series, but that’s exactly what has happened with Broad and Sidebottom currently out of action.
Tim Bresnan is another who might just make the most of the opportunity handed to him as a result of his teammates’ injuries. Bresnan emerged as England’s leading wicket-taker for the second and third ODI matches and also replaces the mop-haired Sidebottom in the Test squad.
Towering England Lions paceman Steven Finn will also be handed the opportunity to inch closer to an England debut at the tender age of 20 as he flies in to Bangladesh as cover for the side’s weakened fast bowling stocks. Although you’d suspect Finn, unless those MRI scans deliver the kind of news Flower doesn’t want to hear, will at best only take to the field with drinks in hand in the Test series.
Still, this will be an England Test squad without Sidebottom and James Anderson, who has been rested for the series, and with question marks hovering over the fitness of Broad and Onions. In other words, it’s an England squad that is potentially without any of their first choice pacemen and guys like Finn might be offered a cap if that’s the situation when the Test series begins.
It’s certainly not ideal for Alastair Cook as he seeks to skipper the side to a couple of Test wins against Bangladesh, but it’s also fortunate it’s happening now rather than in November.
Against Bangladesh, a series of unfortunate events might just hand England the chance to blood some new talent – and the fact selectors picked up the phone to Finn rather than the tried, tested but now out of favour Steve Harmison clearly shows they are looking to the future with any potential replacements.
And if injuries start to unravel the pace attack as the Ashes approach later in the year as well, at least England might have gained the chance to put some miles in the legs of a couple more Test bowlers before they begin their defence of the coveted urn.
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