Giles seeks to replace spin with pace

Jul 2 2009 by Ken Montgomery, Birmingham Mail

WARWICKSHIRE are hunting for an overseas pace bowler to fill the gap caused by Jeetan Patel’s injury.

The Bears have decided on a change of emphasis in the light of the loss of spinner Patel.

Instead of seeking a like-for-like replacement they are hunting an out-and-out pace bowler to add firepower to a seam attack which has, at least until England rolled up at Edgbaston yesterday, failed to make inroads into opposing line-ups.

The last championship match, in which Steve Harmison and Graham Onions bowled Durham to a heavy win, showed up the limitations of the fast bowling resources at captain Ian Westwood’s disposal.

The skipper has no “go to” bowler. As a consequence, too much is being asked of young Chris Woakes in his first full season.

“We are looking for a quick bowler,” said director of cricket Ashley Giles.

“We have a lot of cricket to play away from home, where we cannot control what pitches we play and we will probably come across more conditions suited to pace than spin.

“It is important that we get a high-quality replacement and a quick one, but it is not easy.

‘‘There are not too many candidates out there and then there are a lot of regulations to deal with.”

Warwickshire badly need a spearhead to come in and lead their attack the way Dale Steyn did so superbly in the first half of 2007.

In the meantime, some encouragement came yesterday from the form of Naqaash Tahir, who dismissed Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff and bowled like a man ready to put in a belated bid for another contract.

“Naqaash has bowled really well in the last three weeks,” said Giles. “We know when he gets it right he can get the best batsmen out. He knows he doesn’t do that often enough.”