Exclusive: Who Will Be the New Pace King in England? Prasidh Krishna and Brydon Carse Tipped to Shine

The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy could unleash new seam-bowling superstars, who would make things happen on the pitch in the absence of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Mohammed Shami.

By dismissing KL Rahul at the stroke of lunch on day one of the first Test in Leeds, Brydon Carse already proved that the new pack has the venom. That breakthrough brought debutant Sai Sudharshan to the crease. The southpaw succumbed to the pressure and edged one to Jamie Smith off Ben Stokes. Suddenly, the scoreboard changed from 91/0 to 92/2.

Renowned fast bowling coach Steffan Jones, who has trained superstars Broad and Jofra Archer, agrees that the seam bowlers will rule the roost in the five-match series. 

"The Test series will be determined by bowling units who can adapt to situations and conditions. It will be a battle of the seamers," he told SportsBoom.com on Friday.

Decoding the new English pacers

Jones, a former Somerset seam bowling all-rounder, reckons that the English attack may look inexperienced on paper, but they have the skills to shine.

The UK-based coach is a bit surprised with England's fascination with bowlers, who have a slightly past-perpendicular bowling action, referring to Josh Tongue. 

"England are big at the minute on bowlers who bowl past the perpendicular as such. They release the ball high. I don't know why they want it. It is probably something to do with maybe hitting the stumps more, getting lbw, and nipping the ball back in. Tongue and Carse bowl at a decent pace, while Sam Cook is a typical English seamer who hits good lengths in slow 80s with great skill sets," he said.

Jamie Overton, Craig's twin brother, is in the squad. He could make an entry into the XI at some point in the series. Jones has seen him closely in Somerset and rated him highly. 

"Jamie Overton hits the deck hard. He is tall, and he is from the same county as I am. He was born in the southwest of England. I have seen him grow up, hopefully he is over his injuries. He runs in hard and bowls at a good pace in the high 80s."  

Prasidh Krishna, the new Indian star?

Right-arm fast bowler Prasidh Krishna of India could be the surprise package for India. He will partner Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj with the cherry. 

The 29-year-old played only three Tests before injuries paused his growth. Recently, he raised expectations with 25 wickets in 15 matches for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League although the formats are different. 

"I am a big fan of Prasidh Krishna. I think he has huge potential after his brilliant IPL tournament, He can carry on from there and prove an effective bowler moving forward. He could be the talisman for India in the next 10 years. He bowls at a good pace and hits the deck hard," said Jones.

Why so many injuries to pacers?

England has not been able to field their best pace attack comprising Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson. All three are injured, along with Ollie Stone who last played a Test in September 2024.

Jones, who runs Pacelab, a science-driven fast bowling program that trains bowlers and coaches, revealed why so many fast bowlers are getting injured in modern-day cricket. 

"There is a generation of bowlers now who are getting injured because they didn't bowl enough deliveries when they were younger. Workload management and the number of balls they could bowl were perhaps restricted."

"Injuries happen when you have workload spikes. You bowl 10 overs a week, and 50 overs in the next week. That sort of stuff means the body has not progressively adapted or grown stronger as the load has spiked. The bowlers haven't bowled enough balls in generations and suddenly after 18, they are asked to bowl a lot of deliveries. That's one of the reasons," he said.

What not to do?

Jones, who coaches bowlers from across the globe, rules out bowling in the nets as a workload. 

"A lot of the bowlers are undercooked and under bowled in high-intensity bowling. Bowling more balls in the nets stands irrelevant. The intensity is different from match-day scenarios but those balls are counted as their weekly loads which provide a mismatch between low-volume and high-intensity bowling."

"Many coaches are unaware of the correct techniques for each bowler. We try, and fit bowlers into a fixed stereotypical bowling action and not considering human movement and how they built," he reasoned.

"On some occasions, bowlers train the same way as batters; it is madness. There is a general lack of athleticism in the younger generation. They don't play cross-curricular sports, and they don't develop robustness."

Jones has coached the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the IPL, and has also personally worked with Indian speedsters Ishant Sharma and Jaydev Unadkat.