Ashes 2017: Craig Overton ready to fight fire with fire after bruising England bow

Overton enjoyed his first taste of Test cricket in Adelaide even if it did end in defeat and leave him with one or two scars for his trouble

Craig Overton enjoyed his first taste of Ashes cricket (AFP)

One look at the field was all Craig Overton needed to know what was coming. Out of the corner of his left eye, Australian fielders were beginning to muster on the on-side: fine leg, short leg, leg gully. Forty yards away, Pat Cummins was standing malevolently at the end of his run. Meanwhile, umpire Aleem Dar had news for him: “Right arm round the wicket.”

Welcome to Test cricket, son.

The morning after England’s defeat at Adelaide, Overton is sitting in the team hotel, visibly wincing. By most measures, his Test debut was a resounding success: top wicket-taker and top run-scorer in the first innings, the scalp of Australia’s captain Steve Smith, a fine tumbling catch at fine leg, an impressed coach. “He has a bit of fire in his belly, which I like,” Trevor Bayliss says of him.

But success has come at a price. Batting in the second innings, Overton misjudged a bouncer from Cummins. The ball missed his chest protector and dealt him a painful blow in the ribcage. On reflection, he was probably lucky not to break a rib. “I’ll be fine,” he reassures us. “It’s a bit sore this morning, it’s just a bit bruised.”

The bruising is a raw reminder of the stakes Overton is playing for these days. The heat and hazard of an Ashes series Down Under can literally hit you hard. Along with Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood form the quickest pace attack in the world right now. And together, they present a very different sort of challenge to the bowlers Overton will have been used to facing in the more temperate world of county cricket.

“You can get one like that in a first-class game,” Overton says. “But to have three is tough work. I felt like I played it pretty well.”

There used to be a rolling debate within cricket about the morality, or at least the validity, of subjecting lower-order batsmen to 90mph short-pitched bowling. It is a debate that, rightly or wrongly, has pretty much evaporated these days.

Overton was welcomed to Ashes cricket with a barrage of short-pitched bowling (Getty)

“It’s part of cricket,” Overton says. “I think you have to enjoy it. For me, it’s not all about survival. You have to score as well. So the odd shot was about trying to get down the other end, because you don’t want to be facing six balls an over at your head.”

Overton dealt with the challenge better than most; better than many of England’s recognised batsmen, in fact. Coming in for his first Test innings, with Starc steaming in at him, he thrashed a quick unbeaten 41, displaying the positive defence and attack that has earned him a first-class century for Somerset.

In so doing, he proved an exemplar for England’s lower-order, who can expect another bouncer volley in Perth next week, where England must avoid defeat to keep the series alive. “It’s almost a mindset that our Nos 10 and 11 can’t play short-pitched bowling,” he admits. “But it’s just about confidence. We need to find ways of dealing with it. At the moment, I think we’re playing it all right.”

Overton has bruises to show for it but is eager to get back out there in Perth (Getty)

With the ball, Overton certainly showed enough in Adelaide to earn a second cap, providing his rib recovers. He offered Joe Root good control, a little sideways movement and the ability to stick to a plan. Taunted by Smith for his lack of pace, Overton responded in perfect fashion, nipping one back through the gate and bowling him.

What did he learn from his first game? “The bad balls are going to be put away,” he replies. “I know I’m not the quickest - I’m the first to admit that - but for me, it’s all about the control, the little variations and skill, that are going to help at this level. It is about doing the basics right.”

Overton bowled 33 overs in the Australian first innings, his most ever in first-class cricket. He will need to toughen up physically if he is to play consistently at this level, and like most of his England team-mates (except Moeen Ali) he will sit out the two-day warm-up game this weekend.

Beyond that, the third Test beckons, in a series that already seems to be sliding away. Yet Overton insists: “We are not panicking yet. We are not that far off. The way we bowled and batted, we have the confidence that we can actually win a Test match in Australia. We are confident we can get a result, and then the series is back on.”

Overton, meanwhile, is relishing the opportunity to confront Cummins again, the man responsible for the painful bruise on his left side. Will he try and dish out a taste of his own medicine? “Yeah, probably,” he says. “He can hold a bat, so it’s not going to be so easy. But I’ll certainly give it a go.”