I think England have missed a fit and firing Simon Jones, who had the happy knack of picking up important wickets. When he first arrived on the scene, Jones was out and out fast, and perhaps if he could have continued without injury (not too likely with the strain of his action) would have been up there with the Lee's, Akhtar's etc for quickest on the planet.
However, even when he returned from numerous injuries he proved there was more to his game than sheer pace. Yes he was still nippy, but his ability to move the ball, and pick up wickets indicated to me he would still have been a vital part of the side had his incessant injuries ceased.
Loved his attitude also, always tried his hardest and was never shy in confronting the opposition.
I admit that he may have been an average bowler before the ashes, but i really doubt that if uninjured he'd have stooped to the abysmal levels that our bowling attack currently resides at.
Personaly i think he could have been a very very special bowler if he stayed fit for long enough, though this is probably just misty eyed nostalgia from 05.
There's no doubt Jones possessed rare attributes, his skills with reverse-swing are well-documented, his skills with the conventional variety far less so but there were signs they could be almost as good.
The thing to remember is that Jones' reverse-swing, while not revealed to the wider audience until
that spell at Brendon McCullum early in summer 2004, were first learned in the winter of 2001\02, before the cruciate-ligament injury.
I've personally always doubted he was able to bowl quite as quick as someone like Shoaib Akhtar - the fastest I've ever seen him was 92mph, same speed as Darren Gough - but he was cerainly quick enough to fall into the "fast" category.
Jones' problem, though, was always the lack of accuracy and the inevitable quid-quo-pros that comes with being a swing-bowler, in being completely dependant on a good ball and the outfield being in the right condition. A poor-quality cricket-ball, or a too-lush\too-dry outfield, will scupper all, and without swing (which did happen sometimes) Jones was usually cannon-fodder.
It remained to be seen whether he could maintain the magical "a wicket could be coming every ball" atmosphere he had in the Third and Fourth Tests in 2005. Injury, of course, has put paid to our chances of ever knowing. Even if, by some miracle, he does play regular cricket again, we'll never know how much impact the massive layoff has had.