In Defence of Tim Bresnan

On a cloudy morning in early May, the Sky TV cameras rocked up at Chester-le-Street in hope of some entertaining action. What they received was mediocre bowling from the home side on a flat deck, which allowed visitors Yorkshire to rack up 589-8 Declared.

After a loose opening stint from Brooks and Sidebottom at the new Durham batsman, the familiar figure of Tim Bresnan stood at the end of his run. Unselfishly not taking the new ball, he preceded to bowl a spell of 6-2-7-0 with metronomic accuracy, and the kind of control that once made him so valuable at Test level.

It is easy to write off Bresnan. He had a poor winter, lacking penetration in the Tests against Australia, before losing his reputation in the limited overs side due to an inability to bowl yorkers.

He appeared to be carrying a few pounds, and never looked fully fit...because he wasn't. Rushed back from an operation after cries of desperation from the England management, he was allowed only one warm-up game before being thrown into a losing Ashes side, bowling on batsman-friendly pitches against a team gaining more and more momentum. He was needed so urgently that he scarified his own physiological health to try and contribute.

It is therefore harder to suggest his replacement. Chris Jordan is untested at the highest level, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes are currently injured, and James Anderson is finally showing signs that years of carrying the seam attack are getting to him. Graham Onions proved in this game against Yorkshire that he lacks the skills in unfriendly conditions that make he so usually dangerous, not to mention his frequently mentioned 'lack of nip' that Ashley Giles commented is 'never going to change. And leading Championship wicket-taker Steven Finn is by his own director of cricket Angus Fraser's words 'not ready for a return' to the top level.

With the team likely to be comprised of five bowlers, including the presence of less front-line spin options in the form of either Moen Ali or Joe Root, England will require someone to bowl long, economical spells in order to produce wickets at the other end - a job so brilliantly done by Graeme Swann and Bresnan himself in the past.

His late order batting may also be needed in the probable seam friendly conditions of early June. Whilst it has been average to say the least in recent times, his form with the bat can arguably be said to suffer from same under-practice and a lack of time to heal from injury that afflicts his pace - his bowling has being so publicly denounced by the media, that it must be hard for him to put down the ball and work on his back foot defensive.

Yes, in an ideal world England would have a young all-rounder setting the County stage alight, ready to join the 'new era' of English cricket in the way a Sam Robson may for the batting. But realistically Bresnan is still ahead of the likes of Chris Woakes in the pecking order, and given time away from the ODI set-up, he may be able to once again find the form that made him the bane of Shane Watson's front pad.

I am not his biggest fan. Yet in a side lacking experience, he could be the short term solution England need to get back to winning ways.