England turn to Jones for a quick fix

England offered some indication yesterday that they have not only received but also understood the message. In adding Simon Jones, the Glamorgan fast bowler (very fast, that is) to the squad for the Second npower Test against Sri Lanka the selectors recognised that they need change and the infusion of youth, both to beat the opposition and to engage public attention.

The next step, if they truly believe, is actually to play him in the starting 11 at Edgbaston on Thursday. With all 13 players from the First Test squad also being retained, three must be omitted on Thursday. Jones's presence is far from guaranteed, as the chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said yesterday. "Simon is young and raw but he has an outstanding natural asset in his speed, and we feel we would like to have him at our disposal until we have had a chance to look at the pitch and assess how it will play. He isn't the finished article but he is in terms of pace."

That is hardly a ringing endorsement of his prospects, but pitch-reading being the imperfect art that it is, any doubts in that regard should probably be discarded. There is no doubt that Jones, a partially formed fast bowler of 23, is both a risk and a hunch. But history is full of bowlers of similar ilk, called up in the hope that they can blast and frighten the opposition.

Jones, surely, has been picked now with one eye on the Ashes next winter. Few observers seriously believe he is ready for Test cricket, and his career average before this season of 52.17 betrays that. But he is a graduate from the first intake of the National Academy and the word is that during the winter he made advances almost as rapid as his bowling. He also has fast bowling in his blood as the son of the former Glamorgan and England left-armer Jeff Jones.

"It came as a bit of a shock, although I believe I'm a better bowler now as a result of the work I did last winter," he said. "I've also grown up a lot and learned how important it is to stay fit and strong."

Much is being made of his beginning this season with career-best figures of 6 for 45. The fact they were against Derbyshire in the Second Division of the Frizzell Championship should not diminish them completely.

Sheer pace is still the most thrilling sight in cricket and when Jones gets it on target he puts the fear of God into batsmen. It will be intriguing to find out how fast he actually is when the speed gun measures him, but comparisons have already been made with Brett Lee and Jeff Thomson.

Spectators swear that on occasion this year they have seen the fear in the eyes of the men facing him. This may or may not have applied to the Sri Lankans at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Thursday on the first day of the match against Glamorgan. Jones went for 29 in his first six overs and 79 in 20 for only one late-middle-order wicket. As Sanath Jayasuriya was on full throttle at the top of the order this was not necessarily a poor return and twice the ball flew past fourth slip from thick edges.

Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, who was at Glamorgan when Jones was first given his opportunity with the county, stayed at the game for 40 minutes and must have liked enough of what he saw. Jones is a quick learner with, on the field at least, a proper fast-bowler's demeanour. He lets batsmen know that they are not on his list for Sunday tea invitations. "I have always bowled quick and liked to hurt batsmen. There's no better feeling than giving the batsmen the hurry-up."

Jones's long run-up, the self-confessed cause of some previous injuries, has been altered with advice from the former Olympic long-jump champion Lyn Davies. The athlete advised on run-ups and step patterns and Jones believes he has been no-balled only three times in two years.

As Graveney said, in almost heartfelt fashion: "The Lord's Test showed that Sri Lanka have a very talented batting line-up, and if we continue to play on bland surfaces that favour the batsmen we need to have other options available. This is a good opportunity for Simon." All that, of course, could have been true before the First Test.

Down the years in Test cricket, selectors have taken a punt on youthful speed. Graveney mentioned the recent example of Lee, the Australian who took Test cricket by storm two years ago with 42 wickets in his first seven matches. "He appeared from nowhere and there's no doubt that one of the reasons he succeeded is that he has raw pace." There are other precedents. Sixteen years ago, the selectors turned to Wales for pace in the shape of Greg Thomas. He had a Test career of five matches which brought 10 wickets costing more than 50 runs each. It is surely the time to think of Frank Tyson, picked at 24 for one Test in the summer preceding an Ashes tour, which he then proceeded to sweep through.

With Jones's inclusion, there are six seamers in England's squad. There remain doubts over Dominic Cork's fitness, and although he ended up as the side's leading wicket-taker at Lord's, evidence of his late away-swing, allegedly restored, was slender.

Matthew Hoggard, the man who has been nurtured to carry the torch for the next generation of seamers, has been desperately out of form. Alex Tudor warrants another chance. It would be an uncharacteristic lack of loyalty by these selectors to omit Hoggard, a player with a central contract who has performed well in the past.

They may also want to include the spinner Ashley Giles. Would they dare, in view of the first-innings batting failure at Lord's, to leave out a batsman?

But they should do all they can to include Jones. The sight of Sri Lankan stumps sprawled might even deflect attention from England's footballers. Jones will not be 24 until 25 December, but if he leaps from the blocks at Edgbaston the selectors will think all their Christmases have come at once.

Test squad

N Hussain (Essex) Age 34, Caps 69

M E Trescothick (Somerset) 26, 23

M A Butcher (Surrey) 29, 39

M P Vaughan (Yorkshire) 27, 17

G P Thorpe (Surrey) 32, 74

J P Crawley (Hampshire) 30, 30

A J Stewart (Surrey) 39, 116

A Flintoff (Lancashire) 24, 16

D G Cork (Derbyshire) 30, 32

A F Giles (Warwickshire) 29, 13

A J Tudor (Surrey) 24, 5

A R Caddick (Somerset) 33, 54

M J Hoggard (Yorkshire) 25, 9

S P Jones (Glamorgan) 23, 0