Pakistan vs England: English swerving left with Reece Topley and David Willey

After failing to win a World Cup in the tournament’s 40-year history, it is little wonder that England would give their right arm for a change of fortune. By the time the country hosts the next global gathering, though, England hope to have a strong left-arm bowling attack to help them right that wrong.

Reece Topley and David Willey have been the finds of the one-day series against Pakistan so far, as the tourists go into the third match in Sharjah on Tuesday all square. The left-arm pacemen picked up seven wickets between them in the first two games, moving the ball at a lively pace.

With a World Cup on home soil in 2019, both are likely to be central cogs in England’s plans – though if they are going to be long-term successes in all formats the pair will have to buck one of English cricket’s most inexplicable historical footnotes.

No left-arm paceman has ever taken 100 Test wickets for England. The list is topped by Harold Larwood’s opening partner during the 1932-33 Bodyline tour, Bill Voce, with 98, while Yorkshire’s Ryan Sidebottom has 79 and Essex’s John Lever 73.

Lever (below) took over 1,700 first-class wickets and took 10 on his England debut against India in Delhi in 1976. He also played with Topley’s father, Don, in his 22-year career at Chelmsford.

Few, then, are better placed to give their opinion on the chances of the new boy becoming a fixture in this young England side. “I’m a great believer that if he’s fit enough and is bowling well enough then he should be in there,” says Lever. “He already looks at home in one-day cricket.

“In the Tests, you’ve obviously got two outstanding new-ball bowlers in Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson but I still think a left-armer would get you those wickets on flat pitches that the others won’t.

“Why haven’t we produced many left-armers in this country? It’s an anomaly, isn’t it? Coaching left-arm bowlers is completely different to a right-arm-over bowler, it really is. There’s a lot of chat on Sky with the various batsmen about it, but they’re talking a load of bollocks. It’s an art really.

“To swing it back in is the wicket ball and that’s where Reece Topley is so good. I had a little chat with him when he joined Essex and we talked about what a left-armer is trying to do, how they get their wickets.”

Topley took plenty at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, finishing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 19 at an average of just nine. He has also snared 125 first-class scalps at a cost of 25 since making his debut in 2011 – figures which clearly impressed Hampshire, who signed him from Essex in August.

Willey was another to make the switch from Second Division to First at the end of the season, moving from Northamptonshire to Yorkshire after six seasons at Wantage Road. Whereas Topley was earmarked for a career at the top at a relatively early age – earning England Under-17 honours before making the step up to the Under-19 side – Willey’s early career developed at a more sedate pace.

According to the Northants coach, David Ripley: “He has always had the ability to swing the ball but behind that his biggest trait was probably his determination – he has always been driven to succeed. His dad [Peter] is a bit of a Northants legend so he had that behind him, but he wasn’t an absolute stand-out first-class cricketer.

“He went on to the academy as a bit of a gamble. He was one of the players we picked on this driven, competitive spirit that we saw in his cricket, but he wasn’t the person in the age-group squad who was scoring runs or taking all the wickets. He just had this competitive spirit.”

That has been much in evidence in his England career to date, with his refusal to take a backwards step one of the attributes that has stood out since his one-day debut against Ireland in May.

His promise was then confirmed against New Zealand and Australia this summer. He took 3 for 51 in an Australia total of 299 at Headingley in September and then ended the match by hitting a six off John Hastings as England recorded an extraordinary win.

It’s the kind of flair that has endeared him to England coach Trevor Bayliss, although what he and the selectors really want is a left-armer who can match the pace of either Mitchell Johnson or Mitchell Starc.

The one man who possibly fits that bill is Tymal Mills, who is currently in South Africa for a fast-bowling camp alongside another left-arm quick, Mark Footitt. Mills will only be playing in T20 or 50-over cricket for the foreseeable future but he outlines the benefits that a change of angle can bring.

“It’s something different and that is something that any team will value,” Mills says. “Reece is 6ft 7in, and he gets natural bounce. Everyone wants us to find the new Mitchell Johnson but he’s a one-off. That’s not to say we don’t have a left-armer capable getting plenty of wickets. If you can couple pace with a different angle then you’ve got a winning combination.”

England will hope they have found that in Topley and Willey. The World Cup countdown starts now.