Sidebottom undeserving of Agnew criticism

The Barbados Test descended into one of the most futile and underwhelming pieces of Test cricket imaginable yesterday – seventeen wickets falling in five days pointed either to the need to restore timeless Test matches or to look far more closely at the quality of pitches. Jonathan Agnew, however, managed to find someone to blame for not taking wickets, and that was England's most effective bowler of the past two years, Ryan Sidebottom (if you have any doubts, have a look at the bowling contributions by England players in the last two years here on Cricinfo).

Stuart Broad tried his best, and Graeme Swann took a second five- wicket haul, but England lacked a cutting edge of the sort a razor sharp Steve Harmison would have provided, but there was no guarantee of that when the team was picked.

Ryan Sidebottom, meanwhile, looks short of pace and is simply not effective in these conditions in which you have to bowl the ball into the pitch.

So many areas with which to disagree! “England lacked a cutting edge of the sort a razor sharp Steve Harmison would have provided, but there was no guarantee of that when the team was picked” - it's been time to abandon the myth of the razor-sharp Steve Harmison for a while now, Jonathan – catch up. Check his averages on Cricinfo if you're not sure. Check his biggest match contribution of 6/148 in the last two years. Check the fact he has been dropped by three England captains now in a year. The question of Harmison's value to the team has already been addressed on these pages, so we needn't rehash them in great detail – suffice it to say that his name appears only as a timely reminder that he is of little relevance to providing cutting edge on a flat track.

“Ryan Sidebottom looks short of pace” - true enough. He bowled predominantly at around 80mph, which is a good 5mph short of the pace at which he has bowled in recent times for England. Agnew's analysis, however, carries no regard for the injuries which have both hampered him as he bowls and have also prevented him from discovering the rhythm which underpins his bowling. Here's Andy Flower confirming that, as reported by AOL New Zealand:

Left-armer Ryan Sidebottom's struggles with injury also continue, which further explains why England felt it necessary to extend the squad to 18 members.

"Sidebottom is getting his fitness back after quite a long time out," Flower explained.

"He played the first Test and struggled a bit with his Achilles, he has had a chronic Achilles problem, and is getting back to full fitness."

Note that despite this England still felt he represented a better option than Steve Harmison.

“Ineffective in these conditions when you have to bowl the ball into the pitch” - well, let's cast our minds back to Sri Lanka at the end of 2007, when a handful of overs of swing were soon replaced by unresponsive, low, flat wickets – how did Sidebottom do here? Here's what the Cricinfo series summary said:

Ryan Sidebottom - 7
England's stand-out performer. Sidebottom was disciplined, determined and desperately luckless with the ball - if there was a catch to be dropped, he was invariably the bowler left kicking the turf in frustration. With the bat he was an absolute revelation, providing a rigidity to England's tail that no-one had dared to anticipate. In all three Tests he was defiance personified, not least in the Galle debacle, when his 70-ball innings was England's longest by a distance.

Hideously unlucky then. Not incapable of doing it at all – and when the pitches were favourable, the results have been very impressive.

Sidebottom had a poor Test match, but he deserves more than to be written off by Agnew, who should recall his previous performances and be mindful of what has been a publicised injury. In a team where others have been shown extreme leniency for poor results and almost boundless selectorial patience, Sidebottom should fear neither the axe nor the disparagement of commentators at the moment.

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