Tremlett the tormentor

Chris Tremlett has worked hard to improve his presence on the field of play © Getty Images

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Chris Tremlett can thank some forceful southern hemisphere advice for helping him back into the England team after introducing overdue aggression into his fast bowler’s armoury.

The 25-year-old Hampshire seamer has all the attributes required of a fast bowler standing at 6ft 7ins and able to extract steepling bounce from even the most placid of wickets.

But one of the main characteristics that has been missing and perhaps prevented him forcing his way into England’s Test thinking has been a lack of presence and aggression in the middle.

That, though, has changed this season after Tremlett was given some hard words of advice from three cricketers raised in the Southern Hemisphere traditions - Hampshire captain Shane Warne, former Australian left-arm seamer Bruce Reid who is now bowling coach at the Rose Bowl and England bowling coach Allan Donald.

Their advice has brought about a change in mild-mannered Tremlett who is now at least learning to make his presence felt.

“I’ve been working with Warney for the last three years and I’ve learned a lot from him,” admitted Tremlett. “He said ‘take a look at yourself and where you want to go from here.’

“My goal was to get back in the England side and prove I’m a good bowler and a good cricketer - I’ve managed to get myself back in the frame with a lot of hard work.

“You look at your body language and things like that and how it can be improved. When you’re bowling out there, you don’t see yourself.

"I thought my body language was good but you go away and look at yourself on TV and sometimes it looks a bit different. It’s something I’ve tried to work on, be a bit more aggressive.”

The influence of Warne, Reid and Australian seamer Stuart Clark, who has also played at Hampshire this season, has rubbed off and he has worked on becoming more of a stereotypical bad-tempered fast bowler.

England bowling coach Allan Donald has been a big influence © Getty Images

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“There are a number of things (I’ve worked on), having a bit more intent with the ball and just having a bit more presence. I want to show people there is a slight aggressive side to me,” he said.

“You learn things the more you play the game and pick up things from other cricketers. Stuart Clark is a similar character to me off the field, a kind guy, but when he steps on the pitch he has got that mean streak about him and so has Glenn McGrath.

“It’s something I’ve tried to work on. It is not something that comes naturally to me and I don’t think it is something I will do - being extra aggressive and swearing at the batsman is not my character.”

Asked what it took to get him aggressive, Tremlett replied: “You get that pumped-up feeling to do well and take wickets. You have that mind-set that you don’t really like the batsman and early on in my career I didn’t have that sort of feeling.

“I just went ahead and bowled and tried to put the ball in the right areas and get the batsman out but against the better players you’ve got to have something about you and make the batsman fear you a little bit.

“I’ve got the attributes, I’m six feet, seven inches tall, and it’s a question of using those things a little bit better than I have done in the past.”