The Times - UK (2022-05-17)

the times | Tuesday May 17 2022 57

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would step down from that post if

appointed by England. He was previ-

ously the head coach of New South

Wales and worked as a consultant with

Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian

Premier League, after which he had a

stint in county cricket as head coach of

Glamorgan, leading them to the one-

day cup final in 2013. He then had a

short contract with Ireland in 2015

before taking his present job.

The ECB had identified the relation-

ship between the Test and white-ball

head coaches as being of paramount

importance given that they will work

closely together in selecting squads and

managing the workloads of the

multiformat players such as Ben Stokes

and Jonny Bairstow. Previously when

Whatever the reasons, batsmen have

had the whip hand so far.

All credit, then, to Potts, whose

performances have stood out. The

two old stagers, Broad, 35, and

Anderson, 39, have been canny

enough to keep plenty in reserve,

having played only five matches

between them. In the second innings

of the Roses match Anderson

accounted for Joe Root (who made

a sublime hundred in the first

innings). With Root’s stumps splayed

everywhere, one suspects it was a

wicket that gave Anderson more

pleasure than usual.

As for Mahmood, a summer of

frustration awaits. The road to full

fitness after a spinal stress fracture is

a long and lonely one, and the only

consolation is that there have been

many fine bowlers forced down that

unfortunate path before him, and

many who have emerged stronger

and better than before.

Durham’s 23-year-old seamer,

Matthew Potts. It is never a

hindrance to perform in front of the

England captain, and since Stokes’s

return to the Durham side, against

Worcestershire, Potts’s form has

been as impressive as it was before.

He is the season’s leading bowler,

with 35 wickets and four five-wicket

hauls, including his most recent

return of seven for 40 in Durham’s

win over Glamorgan. He looks strong

and slippery, and, having been on

standby for the Caribbean tour, was

already in the selectors’ thoughts.

So far it is a summer that has

brought unusual toil for seamers after

some bountiful seasons in the recent

past. It has been a dry spring; word

has gone out from the authorities that

flatter pitches are to be produced and

rumours abound among the bowling

fraternity that this year’s batch of

Dukes balls are going softer and more

quickly out of shape than before.

been diagnosed with a stress fracture.

Chris Woakes has shoulder and knee

injuries after a heavy winter and is an

unlikely starter. Sam Curran is

coming back from a stress fracture

and Craig Overton has been troubled

by a knee injury, although he has

returned to action for Somerset.

The name that will take up some

discussion is Ollie Robinson, whose

appearances for Sussex have been

scarce this summer, but who has no

injury as such. Robinson made his

seasonal bow against Middlesex and

bowled well, but then suffered from

food poisoning in his next match and

ended up bowling off spin for a time.

Having been criticised publicly for his

lack of fitness by England’s coaches

during the Ashes, he has bowled only

59 overs this summer. Sussex play

New Zealand at Hove on Friday, two

days after the squad is announced.

One bowler sure to be in

contention, hitherto uncapped, is

Running out of options

Of the 13 seamers England have

used in Tests since the start of 2018

only three are fit — and that includes

all-rounder and captain Ben Stokes

Latest

Test

Test

wickets

Stuart Broad 2022 537

Status: Fit to play

James Anderson 2022 640

Fit to play

Ben Stokes 2022 174

Fit to play

Chris Woakes 2022 130

Shoulder and knee injuries

Mark Wood 2022 82

Recovering from elbow surgery

Sam Curran 2021 47

Only available for limited bowling after

back stress fracture

Jofra Archer 2021 42

Slowly returning after elbow surgery

Ollie Robinson 2022 39

Lacking match fitness after tooth

abscess and food poisoning

Craig Overton 2022 21

Injury scare in last match

Olly Stone 2021 10

Recovering from back stress fracture

Saqib Mahmood 2022 6

Just suffered back stress fracture

Tom Curran 2018 2

Recovering from back stress fracture

Matt Fisher 2022 1

Stress fracture in his back

Injuries pile up

but old guard

are raring to go

I

f ever there were any doubt that

James Anderson and Stuart

Broad would feature early this

summer, it evaporated yesterday

with the news that Saqib

Mahmood, the promising 25-year-old

Lancashire seamer, who made his

Test debut in the Caribbean on

England’s most recent tour, will

miss the remainder of the season

with a stress fracture of the spine,

lengthening England’s already

sizeable injury list.

It is desperate news for Mahmood,

whose talent has been coming to the

boil in limited-overs and first-class

cricket, and for Lancashire and

England, who will be without his

services all summer. Having played in

only one of the county’s early-season

fixtures, Mahmood missed the recent

Roses match with back stiffness.

Scans revealed a stress fracture, an

injury that young fast bowlers

permanently live in fear of, and no

time frame has been put on his return.

The opening Test of the summer is

a little more than a fortnight away,

and with New Zealand’s non-Indian

Premier League players having arrived

in the country, and England’s selectors

set to name a squad tomorrow, it is

looming into view with nothing less

than an injury crisis on the bowling

front. At least in Broad and Anderson

there are two experienced performers

fit and bursting to return, and with

a point to prove, having

been omitted in the Caribbean.

After Rob Key, the managing

director of England men’s cricket,

Ben Stokes, the new Test captain,

Mo Bobat, the ECB’s performance

director, and James Taylor, the ECB’s

chief scout, have said their hellos to

the new Test coach, Brendon

McCullum, the main point of

discussion in their first selection

meeting will be the make-up of

the bowling attack and who will

accompany the old-timers. Mahmood

is only one of a number of would-be

candidates who will be unavailable.

Long-term injuries include Jofra

Archer (elbow) and Olly Stone (back).

Mark Wood’s tour to the Caribbean

was cut short with an elbow injury,

which will preclude his involvement

in the New Zealand series. Matt

Fisher, the Yorkshire seamer, who

accompanied Mahmood in the

Caribbean, has been absent from his

county’s recent games and has now

Mike Ather ton

Chief Cricket

Correspondent

CHRIS WOAKES

INJURED

England v

New Zealand

First Test

June 2-6, Lord’s

TV: Sky Sports

Cricket

SAQIB MAHMOOD

OUT FOR SEASON

OLLIE ROBINSON

LACKS FITNESS

continued from back

into high-calibre international coach-

es. The ECB has advertised a number of

short-term specialist coaching roles

with the England Test and white-ball

teams and is encouraging applications

from county coaches. Marcus

Trescothick, James Foster and Richard

Dawson are already employed by the

ECB as specialist coaches and are likely

to remain with England in the summer.

Meanwhile, the selection panel of

Key, McCullum and Stokes, the Test

captain, will meet today — with

McCullum joining over videolink — to

pick the squad for the first Test of the

summer, against New Zealand, which

begins on June 2 at Lord’s. The panel

will be advised by Mo Bobat, the ECB

elite performance director, James Tay-

lor, the ECB’s chief scout and David

Court, the head of player identification.

England turn to Australia women’s coach

the coaching job was split between

Andy Flower and Ashley Giles there

was some tension between the two over

selection matters.

Mott and Brendon

McCullum, the new Test

head coach, have a good

relationship and have

similar ideas about per-

sonal responsibility and

style of play. The

views of McCullum

and Eoin Morgan,

England’s white-

ball captain, were

influential in the

decision to ap-

point Mott.

Collingwood,

who stood in as

England’s head

coach for their

T20 and Test tours

to the West Indies this

year, now looks to have

missed out on the top

job, but the former all-

rounder, 45, is likely to

stay within the England

coaching set-up.

There had been some

concerns within the ECB

about appointing two over-

seas head coaches — McCullum

is from New Zealand — but, as The

Times revealed yesterday, Key, the

ECB’s new director of men’s cricket,

is keen to also identify homegrown

candidates that can be developed

Mott has a good relationshp with

new Test head coach McCullum

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Opener Crawley ‘not out

of form, just out of runs’

Zak Crawley’s county coach has

insisted that the England batsman is

not out of form but “just out of runs”

going in to the Test summer and has

backed him to come good (Geoffrey

Dean writes).

The opener’s tally for the season

stands at 156 from eight innings and

this week’s round of County

Championship matches will be his

last before the first Test against New

Zealand at Lord’s, starting on June 2.

“It’s easy to confuse out of form and

out of runs,” Matt Walker, the Kent

head coach, said. “He’s working

harder than anyone to get it right —

he just needs to get in and take the

opportunity.

“He’s training well, he’s hitting the

ball beautifully in practice, he looks

balanced. I think now he’s just staying

patient, staying calm, and the runs

will definitely come.”