Derbyshire paceman is a genuine wicket taker
Monday 3 August 2015 15:46, UK
With James Anderson ruled out of the fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge with a side strain, England have drafted uncapped Derbyshire seamer Mark Footitt into their squad.
The left-arm paceman is seemingly competing with Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett to replace Anderson in Nottingham - but just who is he and what will Alastair Cook and Trevor Bayliss be getting if they select him?
Here's our guide to Mark Harold Alan Footitt...
Vital Stats
Age: 29
Height: 6ft 2in
County: Derbyshire
First-class wickets: 248
Ave: 25.86
Economy rate: 3.52 runs per over
Strike rate: 44.0
Five-wicket hauls: 14
Best first-class bowling: 6/48
Despite touching 30 years of age, Footitt's standout season came in 2014 when he took 84 first-class wickets, 82 of them in the LV= County Championship Second Division for Derbyshire at a miserly average of 19.19.
In fact, it was while playing for Derbyshire in Division One the previous year - having failed to shine in a four-year career with Nottinghamshire - that he had his real breakthrough season after claiming 42 wickets, despite his team being relegated from the top flight that campaign.
Following that up with 106 scalps in all competitions the following season when back in Division Two, the most by a Derbyshire bowler for nearly half a century, caught the selectors' eye and he was rewarded with, firstly, a place in the England Performance Programme and then a call-up to England's pre-Ashes training camp in Spain.
Footitt has carried on his excellent form in domestic cricket this term, pocketing 50 wickets at an average of 23.64, with a best of 6-94 against Gloucestershire in late April - Hamish Marshall and Geraint Jones among his victims on that occasion.
Australia have searing left-armers Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc in their ranks and Footitt can reach the same sort of pace as that pair, regularly touching 90mph on the speedometer.
He swings the ball, too, and Sky Sports News reporter David Fulton says that with the Nottingham-born quick being championed by Derbyshire's Elite Performance Director, Graeme Welch, he should be a real threat.
"Welch has a track record of delivering fine quick bowlers with Essex, Warwickshire and now Derbyshire," said Fulton. "If he says he is the business, then we should take Footitt seriously. It's the best endorsement you can get.
"He may only be there as a net bowler to start with, but that in itself is an opportunity. If he knocks over Ian Bell or nicks out Jos Buttler, then he will England something else to think about.
"Right now he is probably ahead of the other left-arm options because he is quicker than David Willey and in the right conditions he will swing it at genuine pace."
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