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Tim Bresnan: England’s underrated Ashes hero

by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

On the latest Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, the panel discussed what they’ve been getting up to during lockdown.

While England Women left-arm spinner Alex Hartley has been keeping herself busy on TikTok and Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor Jo Harman has been watching plenty of sports documentaries, regular WCW host Yas Rana has been keeping his mind on the job, delving deep into the YouTube archives to discover things he never knew.

“I’ve found myself watching a lot of old cricket videos,” said Yas. “Today is the 11-year anniversary of Graham Onions’ debut five-for at Lord’s. He’s way quicker than I remember. I think his last wicket was 89.6 miles per hour, that’s as quick as Saqib Mahmood. Jo, have I completely misremembered Onions’ career as an international bowler?”

“Well he had a very good career as an international bowler whenever he was fit enough to get on the park,” said Jo. “That would have been at the quicker end of an Onions spell but he nipped it around. To be fair, he still does whenever he gets the chance for Lancashire.”

Even more remarkable was a snippet Yas discovered about another turn-of-the-decade English seamer, Tim Bresnan. Despite only playing 23 Tests in total, and playing alongside some true England greats in Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, and James Anderson, Bresnan emerged with a record better than them all in the contest that matters more than them all.

“That’s where my lockdown is at the moment, reassessing the careers of former England fast bowlers,” said Yas. “The other stat I saw recently was Tim Bresnan’s got the best bowling average of any England bowler in the Ashes this century who’s played more than five Test matches.”

Bresnan claimed 26 wickets at 27.57 against Australia, an improvement on his career mark of 32.73, and played a part in England’s wins in 2010/11 in Australia and back in England in 2013.

You can listen to the whole episode of the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast on the Podcast App or Spotify.

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