Seamers face battle for places

Fast bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison practice in Hamilton © Getty Images

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Peter Moores has told seamers Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison that they will have to work hard to force their way back into England’s Test line-up.

England’s two most senior bowlers, who boast 456 victims from 123 Test appearances between them, were replaced by James Anderson and Stuart Broad following the opening Test defeat against New Zealand in Hamilton.

Anderson and Broad both went on to excel as the tourists bounced back with a 126-run victory in the second Test at Wellington.

But as England consider their options for the series decider at McLean Park in Napier, coach Moores has warned the 2005 Ashes heroes they face a major challenge to reclaim their places in the side.

“You can get into the side in two ways either by someone not performing well in the side or by performing exceptionally well and forcing them out - it would have to be one or the other,” explained Moores.

“At the moment, for the lads who have got possession, that’s always a strong place to be so for Broad, Anderson and (Ryan) Sidebottom they’re in at the moment and if they keep playing well they’re going to give themselves a great chance of carrying on.”

Many expected Harmison’s second Test exclusion given the Durham fast bowler struggled to reach more than 80mph in the opening Test, but the decision to replace Hoggard was more of a surprise.

Michael Vaughan and James Anderson congratulate Stuart Broad (centre) © Getty Images

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It was a move which was rewarded with both Anderson and Broad delivering eye-catching performances with the ball.

“It was quite a tough decision to make that change, especially on Matthew Hoggard,” admitted Moores. “I’m very pleased they both came through and it opens us up now and makes us more competitive as a squad which is one thing we’re looking to do all the time.

“From what we’ve seen during practice at this game, Hoggy’s working very hard. He’s at an age where I think he’s still got a lot of bowling left in him which is good for us because we’ve got to make a squad which is very competitive and one we can change it around whichever way we see fit.

“They’ve both gone about it as you’d expect them to do, very professionally. I certainly think that it’s a different position for them because they haven’t been in that position before.

“The key thing is how you react to it and they’ve both been doing their work, Steve probably more than Matthew has been doing more technical work to try and get that right.

“I don’t think there was any complacency in the squad before the changes, but the thing about competitiveness in any job you do is that it’s good because it keeps everyone pushing forward.

“We know bowlers get injuries, there is no getting away from that, so it’s nice for me as a coach to know that you’ve got two very experienced bowlers who aren’t in the team at the moment and three lads in the team that are bowling well.”