BertieWoostersDonsClub wrote:
Working out who England might bring in for the 5th test got me thinking about David Willey (no jokes about thinking about Willy). He's not in the squad, and has been going backwards in 4 and 5 day Cricket in last couple of years and is becoming a one-day specialist; and I think that's a real waste. All-rounders
are rare nowadays, and left-arm England bowlers are even rarer. Willey is both, and when at Northants he looked a certain Test Match all-rounder. But his move to Yorkshire seems to have stymied his development. I can understand him being behind Stokes and Woakes, but when Stokes left out of squad he still didn't get the call and now it looks like the Curran brothers are our next all-rounder hopes. At least Sam Curran is a left-armer so we may get one in the team in the near future.
But it's a shame about Willey. He's our version of Australia's James Faulkner: both really talented all-rounders who have failed to kick on. And there does seem to be a dearth of the old fashioned all-rounder in the modern game (plenty of batsmen/keepers, and batsmen/off-spinners, but not many batsmen/pace bowlers).
I’m not sure there’s a dearth, possibly the opposite. We’ve rarely had two at once, it’s just unfortunate that both Stokes and Woakes missed the last test. Broad was pace bowling all-rounder too until he got hit in the helmet, so that would have been three.