Surrey pace man has opportunity to translate promise into performance

This week's cricket headlines – a concept that could become obsolete by the weekend – have been grabbed by Simon Jones, the England new boy who has already been christened the "Llanelli Locomotive". Raw pace does tend to catch the imagination. Whether it will propel Jones into the team for tomorrow's second Test is another matter. His main impact at Edgbaston could well come in the nets, where he is being asked to strike a delicate balance – bowling fast enough to put a rocket up Andy Caddick and Matthew Hoggard, without being so fast that he lands the batsmen in hospital. Nasser Hussain, who is in the form of his life, should be forcibly prevented from going anywhere near him.

Out in the middle, England's fortunes in a game they badly need to win are more likely to be in the hands of another fast bowler who spent the winter at Rod Marsh's finishing school: Alex Tudor, of Surrey. Last time England won at Edgbaston, in 1999 against New Zealand, it was Tudor who led the charge with 99 not out. Last time they bowled anybody out for less than 400 in a home Test (Australia, for 190, at Trent Bridge in August), it was Tudor who did the damage with five wickets. Three weeks later, after an insipid display at Headingley, he was dropped. Since then, England have played two home Tests, bowling first each time and allowing their guests to amass 641 for 4 and 555 for 8. The only front-line bowler to appear in both games was Caddick, who took none for 146 and none for 135. Enter Tudor, pursued by his usual flurry of historical puns.

Helpfully, the two men have just met in a county game at The Oval. Caddick reversed his Test routine by bowling like a dream in the first innings and a drain in the second. Tudor did well in both, taking four top-order wickets – including Marcus Trescothick twice, caught behind by Alec Stewart – and helping Stewart add a match-saving 87 for the seventh wicket. Tudor and Stewart go together well (cue more puns).

But it is Caddick whom Tudor resembles, for good and ill. There is the same steep bounce, the ability to surprise good batsmen on any surface: Steve Waugh is comfortable against neither of them, at least not when fully fit. And there is the same tendency to blow hot and cold, which all sportsmen have, but some more than others. If Caddick is a market leader in this area, Tudor is not far behind. Will he be a wallflower, or is he going to party like it's 1999? Hussain drew the best out of Caddick by showing sustained faith in him. He needs to do the same now with Tudor. There is a clear opportunity to give him the new ball in the next two Tests – Caddick wastes it more often than not in the first innings, Darren Gough is injured, and Hoggard is only showing faint signs of recovery after his mauling at the hands of Marvan Atapattu, Prasanna Jayawardene and Hussain. Hussain's best combination at 11am tomorrow, assuming Sri Lanka bat first again, might be Tudor and Andy Flintoff, who used the new ball well at Ahmedabad and Bangalore as well as in the second innings at Lord's. Tudor might be inspired just by having Flintoff on his side: they have never lined up together for England, and their meetings in county cricket have been a little one-sided – Flintoff took 34 off an over from Tudor at Old Trafford in 1998 and smacked him around again the other day in his rapid hundred at The Oval.

It is time for Tudor to do a Flintoff, and turn flickering promise into something more solid. It is not just his country that needs him – his ethnic grouping does, too. After three summers of England contracts, the only players of Afro-Caribbean descent to have joined the club have been Dean Headley (in 2000), who wasn't fit and never played again, and Mark Butcher (this year), who, as the mixed-race son of a white England player, is in a category all his own.

The tradition of Norman Cowans and Devon Malcolm, Phil DeFreitas and Chris Lewis and Syd Lawrence, is in danger of petering out only 20 years after it began. While the Asian community has produced an England captain and Test players from Aftab Habib to Usman Afzaal, cricketers of Afro-Caribbean descent are in short supply.

Michael Carberry, an England Under-19 regular who who made his first hundred for Surrey the other day, could yet come through. Keith Piper, of Warwickshire, will be in with a shout if the selectors ever again insist on having wicketkeepers who show a conspicuous talent for wicketkeeping. But it is not easy to think of anyone else.

This seems to be a worldwide trend. Zimbabwe's most promising black players are a batsman, Hamilton Masakadza, and a wicketkeeper, Tatenda Taibu. The West Indies have hit on a decent batting line-up at last after an annus horribilis or two, but their bowling has regressed to the early 1970s, producing only worthy third seamers. Cricket needs a black fast bowler who can lead the line, knock stumps over, and talk to the cameras about it later. Polite, likeable and photogenic, Alex Tudor is a role model waiting to happen.