The likelihood of the 23-year-old Glamorgan fast bowler, Simon Jones, making his England debut in the second Test against Sri Lanka, starting at Edgbaston on Thursday, appears to be receding. The Edgbaston pitch is unlikely to favour quick bowlers, and in any case Jones is behind Alex Tudor in the pecking order. While there is no doubt that Jones has pace, his control may also count against him in that Matthew Hoggard, badly out of form, is prone to spraying the ball around and England cannot afford to give the Sri Lankans easy runs.

Jones's inclusion in the squad owes more to the selectors search for new talent, and possibly an element of them looking to deflect the criticism which surrounded their `Dad's Army' choices at Lord's.

David Graveney, chairman of selectors, admitted that Jones might be a name for the future rather than the present. "Our job is always to try and find a balance between winning now and planning for the future," he said. "We believe that we have found a clear path with the batting. We had a transition period after Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart opened the batting, but now we have a clear path not only with the guys we've selected, but also guys like Ian Bell and Robert Key and David Fulton and other youngsters.

"The bowling is something we're still addressing and we want to identify players, bring them into the squad and get them familiar with the surroundings."

Jones came with a recommendation from Rod Marsh, the coach at the ECB Academy, who was impressed with what he saw during the winter camp in Australia. A number of Australians, including Marsh, Jimmy Maher and Mike Kasprowicz, even compared Jones's pace with that of Brett Lee. But unlike Lee and most other fast bowlers, Jones does not rely on a lengthy run and he generates his pace off nine paces and an explosive action, one that was remodeled by Marsh to good effect.

After taking 53 wickets at well over 40 in the four season before his winter in Australia, Jones has begun this season in fine form, grabbing a career-best 6 for 45 against Derbyshire in the opening round of the Frizzell County Championship. He also has pedigree on his side. His father, Jeff, played 15 Tests for England as a left-arm seamer between 1964 and 1968.

"The two quickest English bowlers in County cricket at present are Jones and Stephen Harmison of Durham,"said Graveney. "We did not consider Stephen for this Test match due to injury, but we feel that this is a good opportunity for Simon.

"He is young and raw, but he has an outstanding natural asset in his speed. And we feel that we would like to have him at our disposal until we have had a chance to look at the pitch and assess how it will play."

It is a fairly safe bet that Jones won't make the cut this time. But come the Ashes series in the winter, it could be a different story.

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