Cricket: Jones Ruled Out

Simon Jones, the Welshman who has played such a vital role in England's Ashes success this summer, will miss the crucial and fanatically anticipated final Test which begins tomorrow at The Oval.

Watched by the England physiotherapist Kirk Russell, the fast bowler underwent a fitness test on his injured right ankle at Lord's yesterday morning, but even with light jogging was still found to be suffering pain and discomfort.

Immediately he was withdrawn from the squad and will be replaced in Thursday's starting line-up either by the Durham all-rounder Paul Collingwood or Lancashire's pace bowler James Anderson.

That Jones has not recovered sufficiently to be able to get through the most important Test England have played in living memory will come as a huge disappointment to the team and management, who had been expressing optimism that a key member of their celebrated pace attack would be there for one last effort.

Jones's misery - he called it a "sickening blow" - was in stark contrast to the broad smiles displayed by Glenn McGrath as the Australian pace bowler eased through his own fitness test at The Oval in the form of a sustained - if rain-interrupted - spell of net bowling at full pelt.

In this series it has been Jones's back-up to the power and pace of Steve Harmison and Andy Flintoff that has ensured no respite for the Australian batsmen. His 18 wickets for England are second only to Flintoff's 19 and come at a cheaper rate, 21 apiece, than any other bowler on either side.

In the first innings of England's victorious fourth Test at Edgbaston, Jones had taken his second five-wicket haul in successive matches, only to suffer discomfort second time around. After four tentative overs he took no further part.

The injury was subsequently diagnosed as anterior impingement of the ankle, an inflamation of the soft tissue at the front of the joint caused by the abrasion of a slight extraneous bone growth. Such conditions can be treated and controlled in the short term by anti-inflamatory drugs and painkillers and it was hoped that these, plus sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and the hydrotherapy centre at Arsenal's London Colney training ground, would ensure his participation.

Had Jones been fit, England would have been able to go into the match with a side unchanged throughout the whole of a five-match series for the first time in more than a century. Now the 26-year-old can only watch and wonder whether England's altered line-up will upset the successful ecology of the side and, in a match that Australia must win to retain the Ashes, hand the initiative to the opposition.

The inclusion of Anderson in the squad is significant, replacing the Hampshire pace bowler Chris Tremlett who had been chosen in all four previous squads without getting a game. Consensus has it that Tremlett's form has regressed and that such a mammoth Test match might prove too much for a gentle temperament.

But in calling up Anderson the selectors indicated that it is still in their mind to take the game to the Australians. Anderson is a centrally contracted player with 12 Test matches to his name who lost his way last winter and was sent back to his county for rehabilitation in an attempt to recover the innocent ebullience that first brought him to prominence less than three years ago. An indifferent start to this season has been followed by steady improvement to the extent of more than 50 wickets for his county.

Anderson's primary skill is in being able to swing the ball sharply away from the right- hander and, consequently, in to the left-hander of which Australia have been playing four in their top seven. The opposition's vulnerability to swing, both orthodox and reverse, has been stark and Anderson, on anything like form, offers a greater threat than Tremlett's extra bounce. He has also enjoyed a measure of success at The Oval, taking four for 52, including the cheap wicket of Brian Lara in the second innings against West Indies last year.

To leave Anderson out of the side in favour of Collingwood, a tough competitor but one whose career has largely been in one-day internationals, might appear to offer belt and braces in a match that England only need to draw to regain the Ashes. There will be rain about and a longer batting line-up could be viewed as a sensible course.

But England would be wrong to rely on help from the weather, and equally wrong to change their strategy of taking the game to Australia with a battery of bowlers for all occasions. Any hint of negativity by Michael Vaughan, even in the structure of his side, will be seized on by the opposition and exploited. Australia have to be made to make their own running and England can capitalise on that.

Either way, it will be hard to compensate for a player whose phenomenal progress from underused fourth seamer to integral part of the most ferocious pace attack in the game has been startling. Jones has always been a cricketer of character, one whose competitive instinct makes things happen, be it a well-judged and timely catch that sparks an adrenalin surge of wickets, or some sturdy and clean hitting at the end of the order, where his position belies his potential. His work with the England bowling coach Troy Cooley has brought huge dividends, so that he has added genuine away swing to the natural inswing and the mastery of reverse swing taught to him by the great Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis during his time at Glamorgan.

This type of injury is relatively new to fast bowlers, and paradoxically, might have its genesis in a trend towards coaching in the avoidance of back injury that has them encouraged to land their back foot facing down the pitch rather than classically parallel with the crease, a less stressful position.

Now Jones must face the prospect of another operation, perhaps as early as next week, in order that he might be fit for the winter tours of Pakistan and India. Last spring, following the series in South Africa, Flintoff underwent an operation for a similar but more advanced condition at the back of his ankle, and with superb management, was bowling again at full tilt ahead of schedule by the start of the early season series against Bangladesh. England play the first of this winter's Tests in Multan in early November.