John Lever hopes England turn left again

Ex-Essex and England seamer on David Acfield's hilarious quip, Bob Willis and the West Ham connection

^{John Lever, in action during his prime, left, is keen to see England develop left-armers like George Garton, right}

Where have all the lefties gone? No, this is not about Jeremy Corbyn, but England’s lack of a southpaw in Australia.

A diet of four right-arm seamers and an offie (at least until Mason Crane’s ill-fated debut at Sydney) did not trouble the hosts unduly in the Ashes, with James Anderson’s admirable display an honourable exception.

I met John Lever just before Christmas and he too was sad that the England attacked looked ‘samey’ down under. “Variety gets wickets,” he told me (for the extended interview, do please buy the February edition of The Cricketer). “If every bowler runs in and looks the same, batsmen just line them up.”

England took a punt with Sussex left-arm quick George Garton, 20, and it was clear he will need a bit more time. A nervous display saw him ping down a few beamers and concede 86 in 10 overs against a Queensland XI.

Another leftie to watch is Surrey’s Sam Curran, who could develop into a Test-class allrounder. Lever also hopes that Hampshire’s Reece Topley (formerly of Essex, of course) can re-emerge after a tough time with injuries.

^{Lever pictured on England duty during his career}

England have plenty of slow left-armers on the list of bowlers who have taken more than 100 Test wickets – Derek Underwood (297), Tony Lock (174), Monty Panesar (167), Hedley Verity (144), Ashley Giles (143), Wilfred Rhodes (127), Phil Edmonds (125), Phil Tufnell (121), Johnny Briggs (118), Bobby Peel (101) and Colin Blythe (100) – 12 out of 46.

The most prolific left-arm quick was Bill Voce, who took 98. Then there is Ryan Sidebottom – (79), Lever (73), George Hirst (59) and Alan Mullally (58).

Perhaps the reason why there has not been more can be put down to the orthodox tendency of English coaching…

Lever was a mine of funny stories. He told me: “I really got into the fitness when I started playing for England, and Essex put me in charge of the training. We used to run everywhere. I took the lads on a run from Chelmsford out the back, over the river, and we ended up in Writtle – about six miles away!

"David Acfield was asked: ‘Did you enjoy that?’ And he said: ‘Well I don’t know, if anybody can hit the ball six f---ing miles we will be the first side to bring it back!’ At the time people thought that didn’t fit in with cricket, but now they are all pretty fit.

^{Lever was on the books of Essex}

“Bob Willis was leader of the bowlers, and he would say, ‘It’s the third spell that is the important one. Anyone can bowl the first spell well, when you are fresh and you come out of the pavilion all ready to go. It’s that third spell in Madras or Antigua, when the sun’s beating down. And you can still come in the same as the first spell and that’s the sign of how fit for cricket you are'.”

Lever is also a big football fan, and said the Essex team used to play a lot to keep fit. “I am a Hammer. A lot of West Ham people played cricket when I started – Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Jim Standen and Eddie Presland.

"They all played in our 2nd XI at a time when people could play both cricket and football.

"It didn’t last too long as the insurance people got involved. Graham Gooch trained with West Ham. We played football a lot. Brian Taylor, Doug Insole – all the people at the top were footballers. Pre-season for us was football.”