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Loading ...Simon Jones on the comeback trail
By Will 5 months ago Leave a comment on this post
Some people are getting really very excited about Simon Jones. He’s been injured since the 2005 Ashes, since moving to Worcestershire from Glamorgan, and last week took a five-fer against Hampshire. Big deal, right? Well, yes and no. It’s encouraging to hear he’s fit and able to play, and even more so that he “hurried” the Hampshire batsmen so regularly. But let’s be realistic - how can England accomodate him in a four-man attack? And if Flintoff comes back to make it a five-man, allowing Jones to play - we’ll have two injury-prone fast bowlers in our lineup. It’s not good, is it?
Better judges than I reckon he’s a shoo-in for some of the one-dayers this summer against either New Zealand (squad to be announced on Friday, incidentally) or South Africa later in the season. Steve James made some interesting comments in his Sunday Telegraph column:
It is no exaggeration to say that Jones’s initial six-over spell for Worcestershire on Tuesday might prove to be one of the important passages of domestic cricket this season. It screeched the message that Jones is back. It stated emphatically that light has at last flooded Jones’s injury-crammed tunnel. And it raised the intoxicating possibility that Flintoff and Jones, reverse-swing destroyers of Australia in 2005, might yet join forces in England shirts again. It was truly uplifting.
It was the pace that caught the eye. In his first spell Jones averaged nearly 88mph. On a hat-trick, he delivered a ball at 91mph. Remarkably, Jones admitted afterwards that he reckoned this spell was consistently quicker than any he bowled in the 2005 Ashes. We doubted that his body would again permit such exertions. We thought that if he did ever return, his skills but not the zip would survive the litany of injuries (just two county championship and seven one-day appearances in the past two seasons). We were wrong.
Have you seen him bowl this season? Any comments to make? If you have a video of his five-fer, do leave a comment or mail me.
Tags: england, fast-bowling, injuries, new zealand in england, simon-jones, south africa in england, worcestershire |
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