ENG vs IND 2018: Anderson and Broad are doing great but ECB needs to look for options, says Matthew Hoggard

Anderson and Broad are veterans of English Cricket with 977 wickets between them.

Matthew Hoggard believes England must start searching for back ups to their two veterans.

Former England fast-bowler Matthew Hoggard has said that even though James Anderson and Stuart Broad are doing a wonderful job for the country till now, the system must start searching for adequate backups of the two veterans. 

While Anderson and Broad who have 977 wickets between them are going as well as ever at the age of 36 and 32 respectively, Hoggard believes that English Cricket must start planning and preparing for the life beyond them. 

"everyone's time at the top comes to an end - you don't want it to but it does," said Hoggard to Sportstar and added, "They're (England) already looking (for options). When you have two great bowlers like James Anderson and Stuart Broad, their departure will leave a big hole in the side but that's with any country really. Australia, for instance, went through a transition phase when Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne called it a day,"

Hoggard reiterated that the likes of Sam Curran are the future. 

"He (Sam) gets the ball to swing late. He's quite skiddy too, so no wonder he had a massive impact on the game. Curran’s left-arm angle is different from other bowlers and he's also got this 'go get them' attitude which obviously helps." and added that Sam's height won't be too much of an obstacle, "Darren Gough too was very short (smirks)! Take India's Mohammed Shami for instance - he's not very tall either, is he? Look, Curran will be effective when the ball's moving around and bowling left-arm over the wicket will also hold him in good stead,"

"I don't think it's a conscious choice to pick right-armers. You can only pick who's performing. If you look around county cricket, left-armers who've played for England (recently) would be Reece Topley and Harry Gurney [Both have earned ODI caps]. There aren't too many of them around." he concluded. 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 13 Aug, 2018

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