England Lack Bowling Craft

After watching the First test between England and New Zealand it was quite clear England lacked fire power in their bowling department. Any team that bats for 2 and a half days facing over 220 overs and you still can't get them all out you have a problem. England had 3 new balls which only get changed every 80 overs so they had 3 crack with anew ball and they wasted them.

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On this photograph the middle seam is higher than the Kookaburra seam below. Photograph may not do it justice, but if you pick up both you would want to bowl with the top one first.
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I have touched on this before previously about the different balls and where England core at home using a ball that others don't use they lose out playing in another country with a ball that is foreign to them. In England they use a Duke ball which is handmade and has a more prominent seam. This ball is also swing friendly and seam friendly allowing the ball to move through the air and move off the pitch. This is why touring team struggle in the beginning as they are not used to so much movement. Good for England at home as they do have this advantage.

If we now switch over to the Kookaburra it is machine made in a factory where there is an extra stitched seam. This creates a flatter less prominent seam which doesn't move as much off the pitch as the English Duke ball. The ball tends to swing through the air in the first 15 or so overs before the shine disappears and so does the swing. To get it to swing it takes a team effort with sweat and spit being applied to one side. Over the next 20 or 30 overs reverse swing can happen as the ball swings against the shine due to the roughness and moisture on the one side.

England have one decent fast bowler in Joffra archer and he should not be worrying about any of this as he has the raw pace to bowl teams out. He has a lot to learn as a bowler and will improve over the years learning and adding to the art of bowling. He has raw pace though and doesn't necessarily rely on swing for his wickets unlike his team mates.

Englands new coach was a bowler and a bowling coach and needs to get the bowlers used to bowling with a ball that doesn't help them but more like they have to find the skill to do the things required. The team looks under prepared and vulnerable especially on the bowling side of things.

Luckily for England they travel to South Africa next who are the weakest I have ever seen them and they can learn to bowl with the Kookaburra without to much fear and should still win. getting 20 wickets in a match in order to win is the key and England bowling for 2 and a half days now shows they are nowhere near close to winning anything. Two months in South Africa will add to the bowlers education and will be invaluable to them in the future. I would suggest very few of the England attack has spent much time trying to play a five day test match with the Kookaburra as they are missing a few key bowlers right now.

The County Championship uses the Duke ball as well and thus this problem will persist in the future unless they all change over to one of the balls. It is only fair that one ball is used for the Test Championship and this will be better for England and all the teams involved. England will never be number one in the world unless they move over and their bowlers learn the craft of bowling properly.