The quality of Ryan Sidebottom's bowling was mentioned in this blog a couple of months ago but it's now abundantly obvious that he is not just a good test bowler. Ryan Sidebottom is an exceptional, world-class bowler with no peer amongst the fast bowling ranks in test cricket.
His 7 for 47 against New Zealand earlier today pulled England back from the abyss with the Kiwi batsmen scoring at will against the other England bowlers putting them into a seemingly impregnable position and condemning England to an ignominious series defeat. That this situation did not come to pass is entirely down to the Nottinghamshire left-armer and his complete commitment to bowling for his country allied to rare skill, determination and powers of endurance.
The acid test for Sidebottom will come against the Australians in 2009 and his success against the current New Zealand batsmen must be qualified by their dearth of real test quality players. But all the indications are that his amazing returns in this three test series are no fluke and that England have their best fast bowler for decades. Charging in over after over whilst attacking off-stump with a relentless zeal, Sidebottom asks the question of batsmen in every delivery in such a way that if when facing him you make a mistake, you're out - it's as simple as that. He now has 52 test wickets at an average of 25 and if he stays fit and England's fielders catch effectively (not guaranteed I admit), those figures will continue to improve.
The current LG test rankings have Dale Steyn and Brett Lee along with Makhaya Ntini and Stuart Clark at the top of the fast bowling stocks but I wouldn't swap the long haired Yorkshireman for any of them.
Wello
