Alex Lees – Leading Yorkshire at the age of 22 without 7
first teams players (and a Sidebottom injury mid match) to victory over
Worcestershire means that Lees has never looked more of an international player
in waiting. Lees has all the shots in the book and in particular his driving
through the offside is sublime. The one area Lees needs to work on before international
cricket is facing spin bowling and specifically defensively and rotation of the
strike. He can be a little cumbersome in striding forward and will need to be a
little lighter on his feet when forced to come up against decent spin. It
appears he has the attacking strokes and the temperament to be a success at
international level.
Craig Miles – On a slow wicket at Northampton Miles again
showed his promise and ability to take wickets when conditions were against
him. Miles has a touch of young Stuart Broad about him with a rhythmical run to
the crease and ability to get good lift from the wicket. He seems to have
recovered from the injuries of last season and regained some of his pace and
his action seems once again more fluid. The key area where he stands above most
of his contemporaries is his ability to get good batsmen out in placid conditions
– those are key ingredients in making a test bowler. This stems from the bounce
that he gets from the wicket and an ability to cut the ball around. For now he
will need to continue to work on his bowling consistency and make sure that his
batting continues to improve so that he could be a viable option at 8 or 9 in
the batting order. David Willey also shone in the match but Miles was the
bowler who stood out as someone with the potential to step up a level.
