GRAHAM ONIONS EXCLUSIVE: England shouldn’t get suckered by South African pitches

Fast bowler Graham Onions warns that patience - and James Anderson - will be the key if England are to beat South Africa in their upcoming test series.

Graham Onions has urged England’s bowlers to embrace the tour of South Africa but not get taken in by the fast tracks they will be treated to.

Off the back of a long tour of the UAE, which started with a 2-0 loss in the Test series against Pakistan, England’s pace attack will be relishing the chance to play on surfaces conducive to seam bowling, in conditions close to what they might expect back home.

And there will be a temptation for the Test attack to be drawn in by the extra pace and bounce and bring their lengths back, perhaps lured in by the sight of seeing deliveries fly through to the wicket-keeper at shoulder height.

But Onions, who was part of the last Test tour to South Africa in 2009, where England backed up a successful Ashes campaign with a hard-fought 1-1 draw, and also played domestic cricket there for the Dolphins in 2013, preaches patience.

“There’s enough pace, bounce and lateral movement in South Africa to still get wickets at 82 or 83mph,” he tells Yahoo in an exclusive interview. “I don’t think you have to bowl express.

“I’ve seen it a lot of guys when playing there domestically bowling consistently at 90mph, and travelling around the park. Really you need to have the skill to be able to pitch that ball up to take wickets.

“It would be no surprise in my mind that someone like James Anderson will get a lot of reward out there because he pitches the ball up and he makes the batsman drive.”

Despite Onions’ belief that it will not be all about out-and-out pace in South Africa, he is still bemused by the absence of Liam Plunkett from the Test squad.

Plunkett has been in and around the Test set-up for most of the year but has yet to make a final XI.

A passenger in the UAE against Pakistan, Plunkett was given an outing during the T20 series, in which he bowled consistently around the 90mph mark.

Given Mark Wood was ruled out of the tour and Steven Finn only likely to play a bit part depending on his recovery from a foot injury, the decision to go without Plunkett is an odd one and Onions can emphathise with the plight of his former Durham team-mate.

“I thought Liam could potentially be used as a bit of a strike bowler if they needed,” he said. “And with the lack of Finn and Wood, England are lacking a bowler who can bowl those short but sharp spells. I was certainly surprised it took so long for him to play a game in Dubai.

“Obviously I don’t know the exact reasons for England leaving Liam out, but people would have made these decisions from the way that he’s prepared, the way that he’s been around the dressing room or the way he’s bowled in the nets.

And day-in day-out, when you’re netting all the time and you’re not playing, it’s really tough. Sometimes you know you’re never going to play and you can sometimes slack off.”

In place of Finn, Wood and Plunkett, England have called on Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and the fast, uncapped left-armer Mark Footitt. Out of those three, it is Woakes who Onions is tipping as a dark horse for the series.

“I rate Woakes as a cricketer,” he said. “I think he’s a, he’s certainly a very good number 8 in Test match cricket and I believe the way that he pitches the ball up and just does enough with it, he’ll be quite dangerous in South Africa.”

As for his own Test career, which was unfortunately cut short by battles with injury, Onions has no regrets over the effort he put in.

The end of the South Africa tour closed the most successful chunk of his Test career, with 28 of his 32 wickets coming in this period of 2009 to the beginning of 2010.

A career-threatening injury kept meant he missed the entirety of the 2010 summer. The following five summers have seen him take 279 first class wickets.

He played just one more Test, in 2012 against the West Indies.

“Look I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed that I haven’t played more,” he admits. “I don’t know if it’s classed as regret, because the bottom line is I did everything I possibly could. I could not have done any more.

“I mean people often say go away, score more runs, take more wickets, or take more catches or take more stumpings or whatever. I genuinely could not have done any more.

“I have to eventually just draw a line under it and say I’ve done as well as I possibly could have – I’ve done myself very proud. The bottom line is from growing up at a young age, I didn’t think I’d ever play for my country.”

That being said, there is a tinge of animosity at the way he was dropped for the last Test of both the 2009 Ashes at the Oval and the South Africa series in Johannesburg. It is the nature of the latter that particularly wrangles.

“Maybe that turning-point was in South Africa in that last Test match,” he said. “I don’t think I got the wickets I deserved early in the series.

“I bowled fantastically well but it came out in the press that I was tired and I was fatigued. I genuinely wasn’t.

“They obviously went with (Ryan) Sidebottom and from then, truth be told, I couldn’t force myself back into that side for reasons that were taken out of my hands I think.

“I look back at that Ashes in 2009 and I missed out in that final Test match to Harmy (Steven Harmison).

“Now I don’t begrudge Harmy at all playing because obviously he’s a good mate of mine and I have a lot of respect for him. But equally, I probably actually deserved to play in that game.

“There’s no reason why I was not selected. I look back and I think well actually those two points in my career were obviously pretty disappointing, pretty low times really.”

At 33, he’s excited by the next juncture of his career. While he is still excelling for Durham, having celebrated his benefit year in 2015, he will also be taking part in the Masters Champions League – a six-team tournament made up of players who have played international cricket.

Onions was picked up at auction for $56,000 by the Gemini Arabians – “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t think I would!” – and will line-up alongside Jacques Kallis, Virender Sehwag and one-time Durham team-mate Kumar Sangakkara.

He was actually alerted to the tournament by his county skipper Paul Collingwood, who will be playing for the Capri Commanders. With the competition set run from January to February of next year, Onions is relishing the new challenge.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to try and get my name out there and try and get to play against some of the biggest names in the world really,” he said. “To be honest, it’s so exciting I’d probably have gone and played for nothing.

“I’ve still got so many things that I want to achieve in the game – win trophies with Durham and take wickets and stuff – but this is an opportunity that I can’t turn down.”