Former captain Nasser Hussain gives his vote of confidence to Matthew Potts: There is much to be excited about

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has backed Matthew Potts to become a long term asset for England. The 23-year-old has had a promising start to his Test career under the captaincy of Ben Stokes in England’s whitewash of New Zealand. Starting off with seven wickets in the first Test against the Kane Williamson led side, Potts has been prized for brining something different to the English attack, which has once again gone back to the swing and control of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

The youngster showed his skill and heart against India as well, picking two early wickets of Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli. The wicket of the Indian number three was typical, as Potts got the ball to nip back off the seam, finding Vihari plumb in front of the wicket. The Kohli wicket was most the Indian batters fault, as he dragged a harmless delivery into the stumps, failing to decide whether he should reach to the ball or not.

In his column with the Daily Mail, Hussain said that Potts has a lot to learn in the next few days and there is no one better than James Anderson and Stuart Broad to teach him how to strengthen parts of his game.

“Now Potts has two exceptional bowlers to left-handers in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad to learn from and maybe he could sit down and talk to them about it. They both tend to go round the wicket to the lefties whereas so far Potts has tried both round and over and it is just an area he will have to work on now he is at the highest level,” opined Hussain in his column for Daily Mail.

“Otherwise there is much to be excited about. Potts has a big heart, he’s good in the field and he is better with the bat than we have seen with England so far. He will have seen how Jamie Overton made 97 in the final Test against New Zealand and will realise he has to contribute some runs to be confident of cementing his long-term place in this England side.”

Hussain added that Potts’ attitude stood out amongst the rest of the crop and the fact that Potts believes that he belongs to the international level can do wonders to his approach to the game.

“There are small things, too, that mark Potts out. He’s a confident lad. That might not sound the most important thing and people might say ‘what difference does that make?’ but his attitude strikes me as someone who feels he belongs at this level. He wants to be here and is not shy and doubting himself.”

“(England director of men’s cricket) Rob Key said before the New Zealand series (that) Potts could be a point of difference in this attack and you can see what he means even though he’s not express pace. The speed gun will tell you he’s bowling at low 80s but actually batters are rushed by him because of that slightly different trajectory and he’s a little bit skiddier and catches you in that in-between length,” Hussain explained about the added dimension of the England attack.

England would hope that Potts comes good in the second day of the Test match so that England are able to field their in-form batting line-up against the pace attack of India.