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Axed pace duo told to show fighting spirit
MICHAEL Vaughan has challenged
Ashes heroes Matthew
Hoggard and Steve Harmison to
bounce back from their shock
axing by England and continue
their Test careers.
The England captain signalled
the start of a possible new era by
dropping the tourists' two most
experienced bowlers for the second
Test as they attempt to
bounce back strongly from their
emphatic 189-run opening Test
defeat in Hamilton.
Despite being two key members
of the 2005 Ashes-winning
line-up and boasting 456 victims
from 123 Test appearances between
them, their recent struggles
both in the Galle Test
against Sri Lanka before Christmas
and at Seddon Park last
week have counted against them.
Instead, England are banking
on the potential of 21-year-old
Stuart Broad and 25-year-old
James Anderson to try to get
them back into the series at the
Basin Reserve alongside the dependability
of left-arm seamer
Ryan Sidebottom.
Should they succeed in this
Test and beyond, it could spell
the end for 30-year-old Harmison
and 31-year-old Hoggard, but
Vaughan believes it would be premature
to believe this is the end
of their England careers just yet.
It's not a nice thing for me to
do to go and tell two players that
I've played basically all my Test
cricket with that they're not
going to be in the team,'' admitted
Vaughan.
I really hope they react in a
positive fashion and if they don't
play next week, make sure they
go back and start the season well
for their counties and try to get
themselves back into the Test
team.
I hope those two senior guys
fight their way back in. We all
know how both of them can bowl
and at the minute they're just not
bowling to the standards they've
set themselves. I hope they can
get back to those standards and
put themselves in a position to
get back into the team.''
Harmison, once regarded as
the fastest bowler in the world,
struggled to get above 80mph
consistently during the opening
Test and was always earmarked
to be replaced by Nottinghamshire
seamer Broad,
who impressed during
the recent one-day series
defeat in New
Zealand.
But Hoggard was a bigger
shock simply because
he improved as the Test
wore on in Hamilton
after also
struggling for
pace and accuracy
on the
opening two
days.
He has been replaced by Anderson,
who claimed two for 95
from 38 overs when he was sent
to play domestic cricket for Auckland
last week.
Hoggy has been, and hopefully
will be again, a
tremendous bowler for England,''
insisted Vaughan.
He's always been a dream
to captain and I would
expect to captain
Matthew Hoggard
once again
in the not too
distant future
bec
a u s e
that's the
type of
character
he is.
It's always
disa
p p o i n t -
ing for someone to miss out but
it's a hugely exciting time for the
players we have selected.
"They are two young lads with
a lot of talent and hopefully they
can thrive with the extra responsibility
they've been given.
"Jimmy's had overs under his
belt during the last week and apparently
he bowled well.
"We have seen him playing international
cricket for a while
now and he's got a hell of a lot of
talent.
If you look back to the India
series last year he was man of the
series for us, played one game in
Sri Lanka and got dropped, so he
deserves his chance and hopefully
he can take that.
He will be looking to establish
himself in the Test match team
for the distant future and that's
the opportunity there for all the
players selected.''
11:28am Thursday 13th March 2008
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