Fletcher Blamed for Jones Breakdown

England's Academy director Rodney Marsh has blamed Simon Jones's breakdown with further back trouble on the decision by the England coach Duncan Fletcher to switch him back to a longer run-up.

Fletcher overruled Marsh's instructions that Jones should bowl off a maximum of seven paces in the understandable belief that he needed to double the length of his approach if he was to succeed as a Test bowler. But delight at Jones's hostile Test debut against India at Lord's, when he took four wickets and regularly touched speeds in excess of 90mph, was tempered when before the Test was through he complained of a side strain that has kept him out of the rest of the series.

Marsh told Sky Sports yesterday that he expected Jones to miss out on selection for the Ashes tour party, and to return to the Academy in Adelaide to work on his action - which would leave the possibility of a call-up later in the series.

"When we left Simon Jones, the instructions were that he shouldn't bowl off more than six or seven paces," Marsh said. "We knew damn well that if he bowled off any sort of length of run up, he would get a bit carried away.

"People see him run off six or seven paces and say, 'Hang on a minute, you're a fast bowler. Fast bowlers don't run off that distance.' But the minute he went back and ran from further, 12 paces, he introduced this jump back into his delivery stride. As soon as he jumped, he fell away and, believe it or not, he got injuries again.

"While he was bowling off his short run, he was never injured. But I understand completely why people think he's not going to bowl for England playing off six paces."

Now Fletcher has indicated that he regards a shortened run as, at best, a temporary solution, Marsh must raise his ambitions.

"He is always going to struggle with injuries unless he sorts his action out, and hopefully he'll be one of those back in Australia next year," he said.

"He's one of these lucky young people - and they don't come along too often - who have the ability to bowl with real heat. If he can be sorted out, Simon is going to go a long way to winning Test matches for England."