{"id":372613,"date":"2025-08-25T15:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T15:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372613\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T15:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T15:21:11","slug":"the-england-speedster-making-a-bolt-for-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372613\/","title":{"rendered":"The England speedster making a bolt for the Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tManchester Originals’ Sonny Baker is capable of bowling consistently in excess of 90mph and has already drawn comparisons to a certain legendary Australian\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

He has been compared to Brett Lee, tipped as a wildcard pick for this winter\u2019s Ashes tour of Australia and tormented some of the best batters in the world during this year\u2019s Hundred. <\/p>\n

Meet Sonny Baker<\/a>, England\u2019s newest fast-bowling sensation.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old only made his County Championship debut in April but a haul of 19 wickets at 36.10 for Hampshire has been followed up by a breakthrough year in the Hundred for Manchester Originals and a first England call-up for next month\u2019s white-ball series against South Africa and Ireland.<\/p>\n

Capable of bowling consistently in excess of 90 miles per hour, his duel with David Warner in the Hundred earlier this month, when he had the former Australia opener hopping around during his first five balls \u2013 all dots \u2013 in a match against London Spirit caught the attention of the wider public.<\/p>\n

A hat-trick against Northern Superchargers, led by England\u2019s white-ball captain Harry Brook, followed.<\/p>\n

Among his list of victims in this year\u2019s Hundred are Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Steve Smith and New Zealand\u2019s Kane Williamson have also looked uncomfortable against Baker, who in this year\u2019s tournament has bowled more deliveries in excess of 87mph than Jofra Archer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No wonder he has been touted as a potential surprise pick for the Ashes, with former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain both talking up his chances.<\/p>\n

Yet it is a former Australia player who has perhaps paid him his biggest compliment yet, with Simon Katich, Baker\u2019s coach at the Originals, telling The i Paper that the youngster reminds him of Lee, one of only three men to have broken the 100mph-barrier in international cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very exciting,\u201d Katich says. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, there\u2019s a lot of mannerisms I see in him from a former teammate of mine \u2013 Brett Lee. I know it\u2019s hard to compare because Brett was obviously unbelievable for a 15-year period bowling 140kph-plus [87mph] and hitting over 160kph [Lee\u2019s fastest delivery was 100.1mph].<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, there\u2019s no doubt Sonny\u2019s still got a long way to go to be able to have that longevity and to bowl at that pace, but I think he\u2019s got the skill set that\u2019s very exciting for English cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Baker made his first-class debut on the Lions tour of Australia earlier this year (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n

Having been dogged by three stress fractures of the back before the age of 20, Baker\u2019s regimen of drinking bone broth is one of the many idiosyncrasies that sets him apart.<\/p>\n

Highly-educated, Baker was offered a place at Oxford University<\/a> to study biology before settling on a career in cricket. <\/p>\n

But his fastidious note-taking is another quirk, with his plans for batters, pieces of advice and hopes and aims for the future all jotted down.<\/p>\n

With his body now holding up and his experience this summer helping him find his groove as a fast bowler, there is hope that Baker might be able to bowl even quicker in the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, I\u2019m no expert when it comes to the biomechanics of fast-bowling, but in terms of just how he prepares and his physique,\u201d Katich says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a strong young lad, very diligent with his body, looks after himself and that\u2019s something I saw first-hand with Brett in terms of how disciplined he was in making sure he stayed on the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just in terms of, probably not swagger, but just his presence and the fact he wanted the new ball, Sonny\u2019s set the tone early and can swing the ball both ways. I think that\u2019s a real asset. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just his pace, he\u2019s had really good control and good skill in this tournament. He\u2019s used his slower ball well, he\u2019s had really good control of his line and when a young quick is able to do that you do get excited because the control factor is not easy to have when you\u2019re bowling at that pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker will have his work cut out to make England\u2019s Ashes squad if all the other fast bowlers are fit, with the likes of Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue ahead of him. <\/p>\n

Yet he is likely to be in Australia anyway with the Lions squad that will shadow the main group throughout the series.<\/p>\n

From there, opportunity could come knocking if circumstances align.<\/p>\n

It is with the Lions in Australia last winter that Baker first laid down a marker for his England ambitions, taking 3 for 60 in an unofficial Test against Australia A in Sydney.<\/p>\n

And Katich believes it might be in England\u2019s interest<\/a> to include Baker in the Ashes squad. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019d certainly be no harm in taking him,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEngland have <\/strong>got a number of good options and Sonny could well be another one of them to see how he goes and give him some experience around the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no qualms, though, about Baker stepping up to international cricket when he joins England\u2019s white-ball set-up next month. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s great exposure for him,\u201d Katich says. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s earned it through his performance all summer. Having watched him in all formats for Hampshire, he\u2019s bowled some really good spells in the County Championship as well at times on some flat surfaces. So he\u2019s exciting and I think he\u2019ll be able to adapt across all formats. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a unique skillset where he can swing the ball both ways and he\u2019s got good air speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for that battle with Warner earlier this month, Katich adds: \u201cSonny worked him over beautifully. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust in terms of the planning that goes into that, he sits in the meetings, writes his notes, he\u2019s diligent in wanting to learn about how to go about things and outthink the batter. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn that occasion, it was superb to watch and I think that\u2019s why people get excited because of the quality of player he\u2019s bowling to and the standard of competition we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a lot to get excited about with Baker, and he may be unsettling Australian batters again this winter if his meteoric rise continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester Originals’ Sonny Baker is capable of bowling consistently in excess of 90mph and has already drawn comparisons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,393,7504,4884,26899,48605,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-372613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-england-cricket","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-sports-interview","13":"tag-the-ashes-2025-26","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115090088924297133","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}