'England pacers need to play more domestic cricket' by Cricket Archive Staff Reporter

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Player:	AR Caddick, RJ Hadlee, SJ Harmison, GD McGrath, SR Clark, B Lee
Event:	England in Australia 2006/07

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DateLine: 22nd January 2007

 

England pacers need to play more domestic cricket to be effective in Test matches, remarked England pacer Andrew Caddick. Caddick was in Sharjah as a member of the Lord's Taverners cricket team to play against the Fly Emirates in a charity series. Caddick, who was born in New Zealand made his Test debut in 1993 and represented England for a decade. "If only they play enough domestic cricket they can get into the right frame of mind to play in the technically perfect Test cricket. I think these guys are being looked after too well that they do not feel the need to play enough domestic cricket," added Caddick, who had taken 234 wickets from 62 matches and 69 wickets from 54 One-day internationals. He has an action which resembles Richard Hadlee's. "It is important that the bowlers should have a couple of good spells in domestic cricket under their belts as preparation for the Test matches. Unfortunately this has not been happening and is one of the biggest problems at the moment," said Caddick, who has a tally of 1,070 wickets in first class cricket. When asked why England could not produce good pacers like the Australians, Caddick said: "In England the structure is still not in place. One has to bowl a lot to become an effective pacer. Steve Harmison bowled just 180 overs in domestic cricket a season while I bowled over 800 overs," said Caddick, who played for Somerset since his debut in 1991. "One needs to bowl a lot before being picked for Test cricket. We need players to be up and running before they play a Test series," he added. However, Caddick refuted the claim that England pacers are only effective in English conditions. "The pace attack of every country will be one which will suit their country," he said. Caddick believes that Australian pace attack is still the best in the world. "Though McGrath has retired there is Stuart Clarke coming through. They also have Brett Lee and many more bowlers are coming through the ranks," said Caddick, who was surprisingly dropped for the Ashes series despite taking 105 wickets in 1998. Caddick also feels that pace bowling may play a big role in deciding the winners of the World Cup. "In West Indies the wickets are a bit up and down and unevenly prepared. It would be interesting to see what will happen," said Caddick who has produced a few deadly spells against the West Indies. In the 2000 series against West Indies, he took 5 for 16 in the second innings of the Lord's Test to bowl them out for 54 and in the fourth Test at Headingley, he took four wickets to bowl out West Indies for 61. According to Caddick, England’s selectors have struggled to pick the probables for the World Cup. "We need to have a more consistent team. A winning team has to be consistent in their preparation and performance. English cricket should have a good look at itself and restructure itself." Caddick picked Australia to win the World Cup again. "They have always been a strong force. India may give them a good run for their money," he concluded.