Why Marsh puts elbow greed over willow power

The young cricketers were talking quietly among themselves, as you would expect for a group coming together mostly for the first time. They were uniformly dressed in red- and-white England tops and waiting for a healthy lunch-time salad. Only one of them had actually worn an England shirt in competition. The others were promising young players who have been selected to go to Adelaide and Sri Lanka with the England and Wales Cricket Board's National Academy this winter.

The familiar face belonged to Alex Tudor who would, frankly, have preferred to be elsewhere. He was demoted from the England squad to the Academy after The Oval Test: "I was very disappointed," he says, "but I had a talk with Mr Fletcher and he explained." The new colleagues feel differently. They are elated, for they are at the start of a career that is intended to climax in the Test arena.

When they stood up, the big men stood out. Chris Tremlett of Hampshire is 6ft 7in, two inches taller than Tudor, who is, in turn, an inch taller than Kyle Hogg of Lancashire and Surrey's Rikki Clarke, who was with the one-day squad in Sri Lanka. James Anderson of Lancashire was taller than the average. Kabir Ali of Worcestershire looked fairly normal at 6ft, though.

Apart from Clarke they are all fast bowlers; five out of the Academy's full intake of 15, and that is not a random result. Rod Marsh, the Academy director, says: "Last year we took more batsmen, but England are making more runs than taking wickets, and you can't have too many fast bowlers."

Tudor was asked if he was on standby for an Ashes appearance. "Not officially," he replied. He must have a chance; think about England's injuries and so must the others. Gough, Jones and Harmison are injury prone; Caddick is entering an age of uncertainty. By Melbourne on Boxing Day, all five Academicians could be competing for the Test team: im- probable, yes, but do not rule it out.

Kabir Ali is disarmingly frank about his anxiety to attend the Academy: it will help him play for England. Ali, the professional cricketers' Young Player of the Season, took 71 wickets at 25.08 last summer. He was born in Moseley; as an infant his family went back to Pakistan, returning in 1992 when he was 12, but the accent is pure Midlands. At Worcester in 2001 he watched Glenn McGrath while he was recovering from stress fractures, and he tries to model himself on the great man's line and length. His winter objective? More speed, more discipline.

Across the room stands Anderson, who may have been the find of the season, though admirers of Clarke would challenge that. At the beginning of the summer Anderson was playing for Lancashire seconds and hoping that injuries would let him squeeze into the first team. Among the competition was Hogg, and at the start of June Hogg was called up for Under-19 duty. Anderson had just taken 20 wickets in three innings for the seconds, and Mike Watkinson chose promise over experience, preferring Anderson to the 31-year-old John Wood.

Cricket is in Anderson's blood. His father had played for Burnley and he had played throughout his childhood before discovering he could bowl fast as a teenager. He has been timed at 88mph, but believes he is faster. Once in Lancashire's team, his perfor- mances made him a fixture. His 50 Championship wickets cost 22.15.

The game is in Hogg's blood too, for he is the son of a Lancashire player and the grandson of the legendary West Indian Sonny Ramadhin. He played for Lancashire's junior teams and was selected to play Championship cricket at an age at which the ECB's restrictions on young fast bowlers still applied. (His captain could bowl him for no more than eight consecutive overs.) He credits Mike Watkinson – who had already been second-team coach – with his promotion: "I don't think I'd be there if we'd had a foreign coach," he says. Hogg also has pretensions with the bat, although you would not know it by looking at the averages (his was 12.11). He did, however, get a one-day hundred for the Under-19s.

The best-known quantities are Chris Tremlett, who is still learning to harness his height and power, and Tudor himself. Mr Fletcher has told him what he needs to do: improve his fitness and stamina and develop an outswinger. Then there are two fast-medium bowlers: Clarke, a batsman who bowls, and Graham Wagg, a bowler who bats. Add to these Ian Blackwell, an all-rounder who bowls spin and who is joined by Gareth Batty (Worcestershire again) and Monty Panesar (North-amptonshire), and you have 10 bowlers in the 15-man squad.

The established wicketkeepers Chris Read and Mark Wallace may have been chosen because there will be so much work for them to do in practice. That leaves three batsmen – Darren Stevens, Gordon Muchall and Jamie Troughton. Ian Bell will join them on the Sri Lanka leg of the winter, but they will need to scratch around English players wintering in Australia to make up a batting order.

But Marsh knows what his priorities are. By 20 March 2003, when these young men will return to England, all will be older, most will be fitter, some will be wiser and one, perhaps two, may have played for England.