Fast Men Do Best on Marsh's Fast Track

Fast bowlers will continue to be fast-tracked in the England set-up. After the elevation of Simon Jones and Steve Harmison to the Test team this summer, look for Jimmy Anderson to be next in line.

This much became clear yesterday in the announcements of the Ashes squad and those who will understudy them at the national academy in Adelaide. Under its director Rodney Marsh a production line is up and running, certainly in the fast bowling department.

The promotion from last year's academy intake of Jones and Harmison and their replacement with a small army of young new-ball bowlers is the clearest indication yet that the tortuous process is beginning to work.

Only a few weeks ago the worth of the academy was the subject of fierce debate as a glance at last year's intake revealed more failures than successes. After all, the names of Yorkshire's Matthew Wood and Steve Kirby, Hampshire's Derek Kenway, Lancashire's Chris Schofield, Northamptonshire's Graeme Swann and Durham's Nicky Peng are hardly at the forefront of the minds of those planning a glorious future for the national side.

Even the star pupil himself, Warwickshire's Ian Bell, has suffered an awful Championship season and is further from the Test side than he was a year ago.

But bowlers are beginning to emerge. And it is now accepted that Test series are won by extremes of pace and spin, that is by genuinely fast bowlers or slow bowlers who turn the ball prodigiously, wrist spinners or unconventional off-spinners.

Jones and Harmison are capable of real pace. So is the fast-tracked Lancashire open ing bowler Anderson, who could also play a part in the Ashes series. He is joined in the academy by his county colleague Kyle Hogg and Worcestershire's Kabir Ali, who have opened the bowling for England Under-19s, as well as the Warwickshire left-armer Graham Wagg. Alex Tudor and Chris Tremlett return for more lessons.

There have always been fast bowlers around. A few years ago there was Greg Thomas from Glamorgan. Since then Ashley Cowan from Essex caused a stir. What they did not enjoy, though, was a system that identified them, protected them and developed them. And both those talents were largely wasted.

Though Marsh had no say in last year's intake and made no profound technical advances with the fast bowlers in his charge, what he did do was toughen them up, both physically and mentally, for the demands of international cricket. Last winter represented a physical slog more than any expert insight into the secrets of winning cricket.

Marsh and the England selectors have been less successful in their search for a spinner. The cupboard is virtually empty, with the culture of seamer-friendly pitches and one-day cricket against them. This time the Worcestershire off-spinner Gareth Batty and Northamptonshire's left-armer Monty Panesar are off to the academy.

Anderson, though, is clearly the most exciting name among the fresh intake. He is only 20 and this is his debut summer but some are already placing him ahead of Jones and Harmison as England's finest fast-bowling prospect. In only 11 first-class matches, since coming into the Lancashire side at the end of May, he has taken 44 wickets at 21.20, including three "five-fors".

Kevin Shine, the Somerset coach, said: "This lad just could be gold dust. As well as being quick he can swing the ball away." And Yorkshire's captain Darren Lehmann said: "He is the fastest bowler I've faced this year."

His county coach Mike Watkinson, his Second XI captain last year, said yesterday: "It's not us who have been pushing him; it's the coaches and players from other counties, as well as some umpires. He's made a lot of progress in just a few months. He was a bit raw, erratic and fell away in his delivery. But he's developed into someone who can bowl with good pace and put it in the right areas.

"He will strengthen up because there's not much to him, and there is still some fine tuning to be done. But this is a bowler who can unsettle people with pace. Against Hampshire, at Southampton, and Somerset, at Blackpool, he really pushed the batsmen back on their heels."

Before Anderson's selection Watkinson had spoken to his old Lancashire team-mate John Abrahams, who is now the assistant coach at the national academy.

The feeling a few weeks ago was that Anderson would not be chosen for the academy but would stay at home and spend the winter refining his action further under Watkinson's guidance. But he has been simply too good to ignore.

There is now a strong possibility that, if anything happens to Jones and Harmison, the replacement will be not Tudor but Anderson.