"He is a diamond. All we've done is to cut and polish him a little," says Surrey's interim assistant coach Azhar Mahmood.
He sees a bit of himself in the batting: Mahmood hit three Test hundreds, all against strong South African attacks, two in South Africa and from seven and eight in the order. "I spoke to him about his batting," he says. He is a diamond. Overton bowled to Hashim Amla in the nets one day for half an hour and Mahmood remembers only two balls that Amla could play through the legside. He was stopping a little but if you watch now, he gets closer to the batsman. "The first thing we did with him was to reduce his run-up," Mahmood says. After shortening the run-up, Mahmood asked Overton to note how many balls he bowls down the legside. He is taller at the crease now." The inconsistency has been a theme but, this season, under the watchful eye of Azhar Mahmood, there are signs that may be changing. "We reduced it from 24 yards or so that it was before to around 18 now. He has been the standout English fast bowler on the circuit; hisstrike rate of 38.3is bettered only by his twin brother Craig (min. five matches), but it is - again, still - the pace that has people cooing. England are missing, through injury, nearly an entire XI of fast bowlers, but Overton'sperformances this season for Surreymean he would've been beeping brightly on that radar in any case.
Overton's first day provided some encouraging glimpses that he can make England's attack not just more rounded, but more effective too.
It was a sequence that would seldom be glimpsed by Jamie’s competitors for an England pace bowling berth. But if Craig, with his dependability, was an easy pick in more conservative England regimes of the past, Jamie’s virtues seem altogether more in line with those of Brendon McCullum’s England. Here, then, is the allure of Overton the younger. It encapsulated why, for all that Craig made his Test debut as far back as 2017, and has won eight caps, it is Jamie who many have been more excited by. In April, England installed speed guns at County Championship fixtures, so they could log the speed of each delivery bowled. And so when the twins played together at West Buckland School and North Devon Cricket Club, Jamie would get choice of ends.
DAVID LLOYD AT HEADINGLEY: An impressive start from Jamie Overton. He just looks like a fast bowler. He's 6ft 5in with a great build and his pace was high ...
It was driven back firmly by Henry Nicholls and at first I thought it had hit the umpire. I've seen some weird dismissals in my time but nothing like that.... All his action at the moment is body strength… An impressive start from Jamie Overton. He just looks like a fast bowler. Yorkshire folk are noted for being a bit careful with their brass. and I've never seen anything like Henry Nicholls' freak dismissal
Surrey cricket news: Azhar Mahmood speaks about development of England Test debutant Jamie Overton at Surrey, and possibility of joining England coaching ...
"But I was delighted to be offered the role at Surrey, I live in Surrey and am part of the Surrey family, so it felt natural to go back there. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena. I've worked with Jamie O on all of those things, and it's resulted in not just more pace but consistency too". Azhar, however, only sees the benefits of a dressing room crammed with superstars, rubbing shoulders with younger squad members. "We used to think that scoring 150 would be a winning score. Jimmy Ormond also had a brilliant season in 2003".
Jamie and Craig Overton relation: 28-year old Jamie Overton will be making his Test debut against New Zealand in Leeds today.
Former cricketers Adam and Ben Hollioake were the last English brothers to represent England together in a Test match. While twin sisters Jill and Jane Powell had played for England in 1970s and 80s but never got a chance to play together in a Test. “For us, it’s about those small improvements, a lot of good in the last two games but try and build on that,” Williamson told Sky Sports at the toss.
In this age of positivity, more will be expected of new faces than ever before | ESPN.in.
He was dubbed as being the point of difference Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have been, each well into the nineties, while Overton managed just one delivery at 90mph. It was an altogether more fruitful passage: figures of one for nine in those six overs (compared to one for 17 in those first five) along with greater control. Three balls into his second spell, that movement into Conway finally counted for something as the left-hander skewed a full delivery into his stumps, jolting into the shot as if surprised by the speed of it. Ben Stokes said on Wednesday he wanted his cricketers to approach this fixture like they are in the entertainment industry to improve that connection with the fans. Even the fact he'd shaved the beard he was sporting this week was a sign of some anxiety. No sooner had the nine-over-old Dukes ball slapped into Foakes' black keeping gloves, an "oooooo" went around Headingley. To be fair, the length and the speed (88 mph) was worthy of the reaction.
A gripping day of Test cricket at Headingley comes to an end. England, asked to bowl, got off to an excellent start with Stuart Broad removing Tom Latham in ...
The visitors lost both their openers in the first hour. England, asked to bowl, got off to an excellent start with Stuart Broad removing Tom Latham in the very first over. A gripping day of Test cricket at Headingley comes to an end.
England debutant Jamie Overton admitted it was a special day for himself and his family as he was presented with his cap by twin brother Craig and he hopes ...
"We didn't play a lot in the backyard because we broke a lot of bats and a lot of windows." "You have got to be on the ball the whole time and if you bowl a bad ball it gets hit for four, whereas in county cricket you can potentially get away with that. "I bowled earlier in the week and it felt alright over that side over that hill but there is more of a ridge than you think. "It would have been nice to play together, it was actually between us who was going to play, but he was delighted for me that I was going to get the go. "Craig has obviously played a few Test matches and it would have been nice to play together, but to get that [cap] off Craig was a very special moment and hopefully we have got a few more games together," said Overton. England debutant Jamie Overton admitted it was a special day for himself and his family as he was presented with his cap by twin brother Craig and he hopes they will have the chance to play Test cricket together in the future.
A gripping day of Test cricket at Headingley comes to an end. England, asked to bowl, got off to an excellent start with Stuart Broad removing Tom Latham in ...
Jamie Overton reflects on making his Test debut for England and talks about how it was growing up playing cricket with his brother 🏏 pic.twitter.com/c8vkaxNebM June 23, 2022 The visitors lost both their openers in the first hour. Jamie Overton reflects on making Test debut for England
In this age of positivity, more will be expected of new faces than ever before.
He was dubbed as being the point of difference Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone have been, each well into the nineties, while Overton managed just one delivery at 90mph. It was an altogether more fruitful passage: figures of one for nine in those six overs (compared to one for 17 in those first five) along with greater control. Three balls into his second spell, that movement into Conway finally counted for something as the left-hander skewed a full delivery into his stumps, jolting into the shot as if surprised by the speed of it. By the time he had finished his first spell of five overs, beyond a couple of deliveries that caused misjudgements from Devon Conway, the crowd had already returned to their conversation. No sooner had the nine-over-old Dukes ball slapped into Foakes' black keeping gloves, an "oooooo" went around Headingley. To be fair, the length and the speed (88 mph) was worthy of the reaction. Even the fact he'd shaved the beard he was sporting this week was a sign of some anxiety.
England debutant Jamie Overton admitted it was a special day for himself and his family as he was presented with his cap by twin brother Craig and he hopes ...
"We didn't play a lot in the backyard because we broke a lot of bats and a lot of windows." "You have got to be on the ball the whole time and if you bowl a bad ball it gets hit for four, whereas in county cricket you can potentially get away with that. "I bowled earlier in the week and it felt alright over that side over that hill but there is more of a ridge than you think. "It would have been nice to play together, it was actually between us who was going to play, but he was delighted for me that I was going to get the go. "Craig has obviously played a few Test matches and it would have been nice to play together, but to get that [cap] off Craig was a very special moment and hopefully we have got a few more games together," said Overton. England debutant Jamie Overton admitted it was a special day for himself and his family as he was presented with his cap by twin brother Craig and he hopes they will have the chance to play Test cricket together in the future.
Jamie Overton wasted no time in announcing his intentions. Introduced as early as the tenth over of the day, which was shrewd captaincy by Ben Stokes, ...
Jamie Overton wasted no time in announcing his intentions. Introduced as early as the tenth over of the day, which was shrewd captaincy by Ben Stokes, the debutant’s first ball in Test cricket, to Will Young, was a bouncer timed at 88mph. The debutant impressed with his slippery bouncers and skill despite failing to hit the heights of Archer and Wood in an 84.5mph opening spell