Jade Dernbach has been called into England’s World Cup squad as a replacement for Ajmal Shahzad, who returns home after straining a thigh muscle.
Shock call: Jade Dernbach will fly out to India to join England at World Cup
Dernbach, a player with the most tattooed arm in English cricket (presumably a counterbalance to having a most unfastbowlerly Christian name) is another addition to England ’s burgeoning brood of players born in Johannesburg. There are now three with another from Cape Town.
Dernbach plays for Surrey, and is already on his way from the Caribbean to join England as they await confirmation of their progress to the quarter-finals, something dependent of the outcome of this weekend’s group matches.
Strong, athletic and aggressive, like Shahzad, Dernbach, 24, has been touring the West Indies with England Lions following an impressive showing for the England Performance Programme in Australia.
As Chris Tremlett’s new-ball partner at Surrey, he enjoyed a fruitful season, taking 51 first-class wickets at an average of 27, but it is his attitude and progress that have caught the eye of England’s selectors.
“We’ve been following Jade’s progress for some time and he has impressed ever since he went on the fast bowling programme in 2008/9,” said Geoff Miller, the national selector, on Friday.
“He is a talented athlete and has performed very well with the Lions on the current tour of the West Indies and we feel his variations will be extremely useful on the surfaces we will be playing on should we progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup.”
It is long journey across time zones from the Caribbean to India, but England might be tempted to throw him straight in after the success of their other fresh faces, James Tredwell, Luke Wright and, to a lesser extent, Chris Tremlett, had against the West Indies.
Tredwell, preferred to Mike Yardy as the second spinner, took four for 48 from his 10 overs in England’s victory, three of them big wickets to the cause.
But if the West Indies were taken by surprise, it was entirely in keeping with the crazy, unpredictable nature of England’s cricket at this World Cup that someone on the fringes, and with no wickets in his previous three one-day internationals, should suddenly pop up to be the man of the match.
It is easy to feel unloved and unwanted when you are on the fringes of the team, a mindset that can also hold you back when you do finally get your big chance. Indeed, anyone doubting how hard it is to shed the role of spare part only had to be at Chennai airport yesterday to see Wright, second highest scorer on Thursday, dutifully getting in a tray of coffees for the lads.
It takes a special kind of person to be a team man from the fringes. Tredwell, as Paul Collingwood was in his early years, has been picked for several England squads because he suppresses the self in favour of the side, a trait that does not go unnoticed in the Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss regime. Knowing his captain and coach already had confidence in him, probably helped him take his chance with so little fuss.
“You learn to use frustration to improve your game,” said Tredwell on Friday, as England decamped to Delhi to await their fate.
“Certainly I’ve tried to use my time out of the team to improve as a cricketer and hopefully then perform when my chance came. It stood me in good stead. It’s not always in the nets – there are other facets of the game like the gym and fielding. It all counts a huge amount to getting into the team, if you can improve every part of your game.”
Not long ago, off-spinners were the ciphers of cricket and Tredwell admitted that he turned to bowling them only after first trying seam and leg-spin.
But while few are blessed to bowl them as well as Graeme Swann, Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan, the Decision Review System and with it a generation of umpires keen to compete against its unflinching geometry, has increased the value of the journeyman off-spinner, especially on pitches where low bounce and occasional turn, as at this World Cup, which means pads are struck with greater regularity.
Tredwell got two lbws against the West Indies on Thursday, including Chris Gayle, whose fierce hitting looked as if it might finish the game in 30 overs. It was a close call, upheld by Hawkeye, just, after Gayle had asked for a review.
Later, Kieron Pollard, West Indies’ other dangerous striker, went the same way to Graeme Swann and England clawed their way to a victory which, providence providing this weekend, will see them into the knockout stage.
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