England have three giants who could become the answer to Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc

England have an answer to the three fast bowlers who have propelled Australia to world titles in all formats over the past decade.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have taken exactly 900 Test wickets between them. The only other fast bowler Australia have used in living memory is Scott Boland.

England can now boast three fast bowlers, hugely tall and so young they are still growing: Durham’s Daniel Hogg, who dismissed Nottinghamshire in their first Championship match last month; Leicestershire’s Josh Hull, the left-hander who was selected for England’s third Test against Sri Lanka; and Derbyshire’s Harry Moore, who became Derbyshire’s youngest ever player last summer at the age of 16.

England has produced great young fast bowlers before, but the vast majority of them have withered before they reached maturity. Alan Ward, Bob Willis and Graham Dilley were all recruited early from county cricket, like Hull, and sent to Australia to do great things. But when they returned, they were still expected to bowl 500 overs a season for their county to earn a living. The system is now completely different and follows a similar path to that which produced Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc in Australia.

The Young Giants

Daniel Hogg, 19
6 feet 7 inches

On his first-class debut for Durham last month, Hogg took seven wickets for 66 runs in Nottinghamshire’s second innings. He ran straight and bowled with a durable action that should minimise the stress fractures that are the occupational hazard of the fast bowler. Anyone is likely to run through Notts’ batting because it does not translate talent into runs, but what stood out here was, firstly, Hogg’s size and secondly the speed of his bowling arm. He has a whip in his right shoulder, which is reminiscent of Cummins.

Hogg attended Durham School and now plays for Burnopfield CC, the club of former England batsman Colin Milburn. “If he goes on, he’s a great prospect,” says Durham academy director John Windows. “He’s got the size, he’s got the athleticism and he swings – and it’s often harder for tall bowlers to get the backspin to swing the ball. He also opened the batting for our under-18s in T20s, so he’s not at the back of the pack.”

Josh Hull, 20
6 feet 7 inches

Hull was not born in a barn, but he grew up in one, as was another English left-handed bowler, Wilfred Rhodes, the all-time leading first-class wicket-taker. Hull’s father, a farmer, gave him and his younger brother a barn to play cricket in during Covid. When Northamptonshire failed to get the best out of their elder, Leicestershire stepped in and gave him the right amount of exposure in the white and red ball games.

“He’s by no means a finished player, as he knows full well,” says former South Africa bowler Alfonso Thomas, Leicestershire’s head coach, in a stark warning amid the glowing reviews. “But he has all the attributes and potential to become a top international bowler. He loves to bowl, he’s a fantastic kid and it’s an absolute dream to work with him.”

Harry Moore, 17
6 feet 6 inches

Every year or so, former England captain Michael Vaughan comes close to Telegraph He said in the press box during a Test that he had followed two words: the name of a young player he had just spotted and liked. Earlier this summer, after watching the England Under-19s Test against Sri Lanka at Cheltenham, he did not say “Archie Vaughan”, as he might well have done, but “Harry Moore”.

Many of Derbyshire’s fast bowlers have been coal miners. Moore comes from Repton Colliery, where the director of cricket is now Martin Speight, who at Sedbergh taught Harry Brook much of what he knows. Having made his debut for Derbyshire at 16, Moore has played white-ball games this summer – no league debut yet – and has also hit fast runs. If his action needs a little tweaking to make him taller, like Hogg he is two years younger. His temperament was well illustrated on his debut when a top edge from his bowling sailed towards mid-wicket – and he made sure he was the one to catch it.

Learning from Australia’s greats

If Hogg, Hull and Moore are not simply to become an answer but THE response to Cummins, Hazlewood and Starc, they will have to be fed like them.

Cummins suffered multiple stress fractures and injuries after his spectacular Test debut at the age of 18. Since then, he has never bowled close to 300 overs in an Australian first-class season – usually around 1,200 balls or 200 overs. His white-ball delivery has increased but, as the number of 50-over One-Day Internationals has declined, he has generally been restricted to the four overs allowed to bowlers in T20 matches.

Since 2008, Hazlewood has been subjected to a regime of around 1,000 balls per first-class season for New South Wales and Australia: often fewer than 1,000, and never more than 2,000.

Starc grew up on a diet of fewer than 200 first-class overs per Australian season and did not extend his workload until he was fully grown. Of this trio, he is the only one to have bowled no fewer than 2,000 balls in a first-class season.

Fortunately for Hogg, Hull, Moore and other talented fast bowlers in England – such as Durham’s James Minto, a left-hander who was clocked at 84mph as a 16-year-old – they are now treated with as much care as their Australian counterparts.

Sports scientists working for the ECB have set out guidelines for each age group of fast bowlers. If they are given the right restrictions on the amount of bowling they can throw, and given the right advice on diet, fitness and gym work, their bodies will develop the ‘scaffolding’ that will allow them to bowl fast for longer. So far in England it has often been the case that the more a young fast bowler plays, the slower he gets.

Bowlers aged 18 to 19 are recommended to bowl between 24 and 28 overs per week. There is also a maximum of 18 overs per day and seven overs per period. This allows a bowler to have a major impact on a day’s play and push themselves, but prevents them from bowling day in and day out and risking injury. Specifically, they are recommended to bowl no more than four days per week and no more than two days in a row.

In 17th-century Britain, thieves, pickpockets and other criminals would say: “From hell, from Hull and from Halifax, may the Good Lord deliver us!” – Hull being famous for its prison, Halifax for its gallows.

If not at the next Ashes in Australia in 15 months, then at the 2027 Ashes in England, perhaps we will hear Australian fans say: “From Hogg, Hull and Moore, may the Good Lord deliver us!”