England's bowling stocks are grim

England fought harder in this Ashes than they did during their 5-0 humiliation five years ago, but what this series exposed is their awful lack of bowling options.

England’s management must be disturbed by the fact the only bowler who was effective this summer was 35-year-old James Anderson, a cricketer in the twilight days of his Test career.

The other seven bowlers they used in this series – Stuart Broad, Tom Curran, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Jake Ball and Mason Crane – combined to average 65 with the ball. That is a sickening stat for England.

The inability of their attack to adapt to foreign conditions is the key reason England have one of the worst away records in Test cricket in recent years. Since the start of the last Ashes in Australia, England have won just four of their 27 Tests away from home.

If that isn’t bad enough, England’s bowling stocks look worse than ever due to the steady decline of Anderson’s long-time new ball partner Broad.

The 31-year-old’s struggles extend well beyond this Ashes. Not only he has averaged 38 with the ball across his past 17 Tests, but during this period his strike rate has ballooned out to 80, compared to 57 over the remainder of his career.

The tall right armer is still capable of bowling tidy spells but has lost his penetration, reminiscent of the decline of former Australian Test quick Peter Siddle.

England would have hoped Broad could lead their attack for a few years after Anderson retired. Now it looks like his Test career could potentially terminate before Anderson’s.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Meanwhile, the man who has long been touted as Anderson’s successor, Chris Woakes, has again been exposed as a home track bully.

Woakes averaged 50 with the ball across four Tests in this series and has a horrendous bowling average of 56 in his 11 Tests away from home. Among the top 30 ranked Test bowlers in the world, no one has a bigger gap between their home and away averages than Woakes’ margin of 31 runs.

It astounds me how little criticism Woakes receives from the English media and fans for consistently going missing away from home. There seems to be a delusion he is a world-class cricketer.

The reality is that in his last eight Tests he’s taken 15 wickets at 57 at an extraordinary strike rate of 111. Even in his last game in cozy home conditions he laboured, taking 2-122 against the hapless West Indies.

About to turn 29 years old, Woakes is not a youngster anymore – he is two years older than Josh Hazlewood, yet is not even close to matching the all-conditions consistency of the Australian seamer.

Given that many Test quicks are past their best by 31 or 32 years old – Broad being a prime example – Woakes may already be as good as he’s ever going to be.

In traditional English conditions he is a quality bowler, but take away the Dukes ball and bowler-friendly pitches and he becomes a trundler.

Woakes is not a man to build your attack around. But then again neither is Ball or Curran, or any of the other quicks England have used in Tests recently.

There is a lot of hype in England around Mark Wood, mainly because he is the only bowler England have used in Tests in recent years who can consistently exceed 140kmh.

But Wood is as injury prone as James Pattinson, without possessing nearly as much talent. With a bowling average of 41 from ten Tests, Wood gives no cause for excitement beyond his pace. Another man we would have seen in Australia this summer if not for injury is Toby Roland-Jones.

He made his Test debut this past English summer and started impressively, taking 17 wickets at 20 from four matches – two against the West Indies and two against South Africa. Roland-Jones has his downsides too.

Firstly, he turns 30 this month and secondly he offers nothing different to most of the other quicks England have tried.

Roland-Jones is your typical English seamer, bowling at an easy pace in the 130-135kmh bracket and relying on sideways movement to trouble batsmen. He could prove valuable in English conditions, but there is nothing about him which suggests he can succeed elsewhere.

Of the emerging quicks England used in this Ashes, only Overton looks like he has a Test future.

With an average of 114 after four Tests, Ball is one of the worst paceman I’ve ever seen play for England.

Curran, meanwhile, has a great attitude but is short, slow through the air, doesn’t get much movement or bounce, and looks much better suited to white ball cricket.

England’s pace bowling stocks are truly grim. Yet they’re still better than their spin options. Despite averaging 40 with the ball across 49 Tests, and a whopping 115 in this Ashes, Moeen Ali will continue to get picked as England’s sole spinner more often than not due to their obsession with batting deep.

(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Mason Crane made his debut at the SCG and, while he is greatly gifted for a 20-year-old, the leggie served up constant loose deliveries en route to taking 1-193.

He looks at least three-to-four years away from being ready to be a first choice Test spinner. The only other spinner England have given repeated opportunities to in recent years is 29-year-old leggie Adil Rashid.

In the short term he is a better option than Crane. But during his ten Tests, in which he’s averaged 43 with the ball, Rashid’s shown little to suggest he can become a quality Test spinner.

Which all means that, aside from 35-year-old Anderson, England do not possess a single bowler who looks close to becoming a cricketer of the quality of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins or Nathan Lyon.

They will have to hope Anderson keeps soldiering on, carrying the heavy load that is the England Test attack.