Potential of Yorkshire CCC’s Matthew Fisher offers England Test options

The 24-year-old seamer is a direct beneficiary of the rebooted seam unit that will head to the West Indies next month, a severe ‘cull’ having taken place which saw England’s record wicket-takers James Anderson and Stuart Broad both dropped after the disastrous Ashes tour.

Both veterans have been urged to ready themselves for a summer recall, but Fisher knows he has an excellent opportunity to stake a claim for consideration beyond the three Test matches scheduled for next month.

The three Tests will be held between March 8-28, the first staged in Antigua before encounters in Barbados and Grenada.

Understandably, Fisher is excited to get the chance to work alongside both current and former Yorkshire team-mates on the international stage. As well as captain Joe Root, other familiar faces in the shape of Jonny Bairstow and former White Rose batsman Alex Lees will also be in the touring party.

Fisher impressed during the recent England Lions tour of in Australia, catching the eye of Andrew Strauss – the former England captain back in charge of the international set-up as interim director of cricket.

But he is not taking anything for granted and is aware of how difficult it will be to make it into the starting XI come the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on March 8.

His one further chance to stake a claim will be in the four-day warm-up match Coolidge Cricket Ground.

“I bowled really nicely in Australia,” he said. “I think Andrew Strauss has said in the media that I was the most impressive bowler in the party. He wasn’t there, so it’s been fed back to him, which was nice.

“Then, just before Christmas, I spoke to Mo Bobat (ECB performance director) and he said, ‘Look, there’s the Caribbean tour, we’re not sure who’s going on it yet’.

“We weren’t doing great in the Ashes then, but I think it was more about you never know who could get injured, that type of thing.

“He said it was his job to get people ready so that if the call comes in February, players are ready to go.

“He said, ‘We want you to be ready, but that’s no guarantee of selection’.

“I was just buzzing that they wanted me to get ready just in case. The preparation was very similar to how I’d get ready for the county season, just three or four weeks ahead of schedule.”

York-born Fisher claimed 20 wickets in five County Championship fixtures last summer, 18 coming in the final four games.

He took a career-best nine wickets in the early September mauling of Somerset at Scarborough, including a five-for in the first innings.

He still plans to start the Championship season with Yorkshire at Gloucestershire on April 14 and could even play in the Leeds/Bradford game at Weetwood on April 2.

He has taken 63 wickets in 21 first-class matches since debuting in 2015 – 43 of those have come since the start of 2019 at an average of 21.97.

“I’m really happy with how I’ve performed in the last two or three years, it’s just not been in a load of games,” added Fisher, who has had well-documented fitness issues. “There are going to be people around the country who are saying, ‘I’m not sure he deserves to get picked’.

“But I think my selection is more on potential, with one eye on the future.

“Wickets wise, there are perhaps other players out there who deserve it more than me. But, attributes wise, I think there are certain things they look for in Test cricket, and they obviously see my game fitting into that.”