Simon Jones - International Failure?

[Timewell]

how could some one good enough to play for his country disrupting a settled attack.he should be adding more power to it

I agree...Jones has not done anything that has caught my eye at all. He has been a bit unlucky with the injury in Aus but he's had his chances to take a lot of wickets, and frankly, he hasn't. I won't write him off though - he could still turn his career around into a decent bowler - ala Harmison. He was shite when he started out, and look at him now.

It will be interesting to see if Anderson will take his chances when he bowls. Hoggard needs to take a few wickets too (ie. a fiver).

 

[gio]

Jones needs to bowl more before he can be considered for an England place. He did excellent in the first test against NZ, that spell of accurate reverse swing was vital to England winning. He needs to get his accuracy up a bit and work on his action to stop him getting injured all the time.

 

[Richard]

The thing is, improving accuracy is so easy to say, and if it was easy to do anyone who picked-up a cricket-ball and worked hard would be Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath, Chaminda Vaas, Murali and Shane Warne.
There is a limit to how accurate any bowler can be and, judging by how hard Jones has worked over the past 36 months I'd say he's probably reached something close to it.

 

[Timewell]

And so basically, what you're trying to say is that he's ****...

And I'd agree with that. I've not seen Jones bowl consistently well or show me that he has what it takes to improve...

 

[Richard]

Well I'm always very wary about totally writing-off players but I will be quite surprised if he improves much as of now because he's been playing for a long while now and not changed much.
I'll be very surprised if Jones plays the next Test, and if Anderson were to do well there he'll probably not play again this summer.

 

[Timewell]

No I don't normally like writing players off but in this case I think I'll make an exception...Anderson seems to be the better talent...Jones may be raw but that's it - he has simply not improved since his 2002 - yes 2 years ago now - debut. Sure, the injury would not have helped his chances, but he has been in the side for what, 6 months? And what has he done? He's taken a few wickets...not a lot...but a few.

 

[marc71178]

I'm still not sure how fit he really is.

That injury would take a lot of coming back from, and I don't think he's actually bowled that many overs since it considering the length of time he was off.

 

[Timewell]

In the West Indies I was not convinced about his fitness but now he has no excuse really...he has had about 6/7 months to work on it and he should be close to, if not actually being at, full fitness. I think he's not good enough...I'd love him to prove me wrong (on a consistent basis...not your odd 5 fors...) but can you see that happening?

 

[marc71178]

6-7 months of stop start cricket with another injury break only recently...

That's not enough to recover from a 12 month layoff.

 

[tooextracool]

In the West Indies I was not convinced about his fitness but now he has no excuse really...he has had about 6/7 months to work on it and he should be close to, if not actually being at, full fitness. I think he's not good enough...I'd love him to prove me wrong (on a consistent basis...not your odd 5 fors...) but can you see that happening?

umm hes played 2 matches since that series, in one of them he was the best bowler in the match and in the other he was bowling with a sore toe....

 

[Richard]

Most seamers nowadays bowl with some sort of injury.
A side-strain, a damaged cruciate ligament and the recent injury are all fair enough deterrants, but a sore toe is just the sort of thing you've got to put-up with, I'm afraid.
And for those unaware, look at how few overs he's bowled in his career. He's been playing for 7 years now - examine how many overs would be expected to be bowled in 7 years, compare it to how many he's bowled.
He's never bowled many overs, and the only way for him to start doing so would be to bowl better and earn more overs.

 

[tooextracool]

IMO it would be unfair to judge whether hes good enough or not based on one match in which he bowled with a sore toe.

 

[Tom Halsey]

He didn't bowl with a sore toe in the WI - and IMO bowled poorly.

 

[tooextracool]

but he had just recovered from a long injury lay off....there are very few bowlers who have bowled anywhere near their best after recovering from a break as long as that.

 

[Tom Halsey]

He'd been playing for England 'A' for a while.

If he wasn't match fit enough to be effective, why the hell was he playing, then?

 

[superkingdave]

Well he took 5-for for Glamorgan today, maybe he was letting out a little frustration!

 

[tooextracool]

He'd been playing for England 'A' for a while.

err no...he played 2 games in india(missed out half the tour due to injury) and was immediately drafted into the side for the WI tour.....

If he wasn't match fit enough to be effective, why the hell was he playing, then?

umm to be match fit you need to play more cricket!

 

[Tom Halsey]

umm to be match fit you need to play more cricket!

Yes, which if he wasn't match fit, he could have just played in the 'A' side more, or by waiting for the County season to start, and getting County games. The fact that he was playing suggests to me that he was fit for the WI, and he didn't exactly bowl well.

 

[Tom Halsey]

err no...he played 2 games in india(missed out half the tour due to injury) and was immediately drafted into the side for the WI tour.....

Yes, and did he play any warm-up games once he actually arrived in the WI? (Genuine question)

 

[Piper]

I think with the test at Lords, the pitch didnt suit his bowling, yeh he took one wicket in the whole game. But everyone seems to forget Harmison didnt do that well at Lords or Edgbaston, but no ones saying hes not good enough. All the guy needs is match practise, and i think when he gets it he will be back to his best.