We're loathe to criticise Ryan Sidebottom too much given his superb performances during the World T20, but we can't quite understand why he has been recalled to the test squad ahead of the 2nd test at Old Trafford on Friday. Yes, he provides some variety with his left-arm seam, but if he takes a host of Bangladeshi wickets what does that tell us that we don't already know?
Since his annus mirabilis of 2008, Sidebottom has either disappointed in test cricket or has suffered from a host of injuries, which call into question his suitability for the longest form of the game. Indeed, if you remove his 2008 performances (which in any case were mostly against New Zealand), his test record is 32 wickets in 14 tests at 39.97. That is hardly going to have Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke (or even Imrul Kayes for that matter) quaking in their boots.
Presumably England are building towards the Ashes, and one cannot imagine that Sidebottom's brand of swing bowling will produce that many wickets on the hard Australian pitches. There swing tends to disappear after only 15 overs of the kookabura ball and, we may be wrong, but we can't see Siders reversing it like Wasim or Waqar either.
We already have one swing bowler in Jimmy Anderson who is pretty ineffective when the ball isn't swinging so surely we don't need two. Sidebottom may not make the XI in any case as Ajmal Shahzad would seem to be next in line, which if so would mean a test match debut for the Yorkshire bowler.
With Tim Bresnan ruled out with a stress fracture of his left foot (a case of one pie too many?), perhaps it would have been better to look at another young bowler like Chris Woakes or James Harris? Hell, we'd even prefer to see Steve Harmison return then to see Siders wheeled out again. At least that would create the fascinating prospect of Harmy working with new England bowling coach David Saker.
Elsewhere the squad is the same as for Lord's, which means that Stuart Broad and Paul Collingwood can continue to put their feet up, and that the selectors have resisted the opportunity to have a look at Craig Kieswetter in the test side.
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