Steve James: England Ashes hero Simon Jones swings back to his best form

There was more, though, because his last wicket then ensured a tied game. So it was time for a “super over” decider. Naturally, Jones was Hampshire’s nominated flinger. He took two wickets in three balls. You can claim no more than two dismissals in a super over and Hampshire required only one to win.

The stunning thing was that Jones looked impossibly fit. He has clearly shed pounds. He looked as slim and lissom as he did in 2005 when he helped to slay the Australians.

To think that the last time Jones graced an international arena was the penultimate Test of that Ashes series at Trent Bridge is to confront a tale of sporting tragedy. Injury robbed us of a reverse-swinger as devastating in that series as Waqar Younis had ever been.

At 32 and with a list of injuries that could yet prompt a special issue of The Lancet, Jones will not play another Test. But he did play one County Championship match at the end of last season, recording figures of 22-5-60-4 against Warwickshire, including the wicket of Ian Bell. And I thought he should have played against South Africa at Headingley in 2008 when in fine form for Worcestershire.

Instead England chose an Australian roof-tiler called Darren Pattinson. Enough said.

But could Jones still play one-day and T20 cricket for England? The thought suddenly occurred while watching him perform on Eurosport. (There was plenty of room for contemplation as the trite commentary simply had to be turned down.) He was that good and that exciting.

It would hardly be a novel arrangement for a fast bowler. Take the Australians Brett Lee and Shaun Tait. You only see them appearing for four or 10-over spells these days.

It seems that the real quicks can manage only such spells. The Ashes series involved mainly fast-mediums. Then, suddenly, in the first T20 Lee, Tait and Mitchell Johnson were steaming in together.

In truth, that is a situation most fast bowlers have mischievously craved for time immemorial: lots of money for very little work.

That is because bowlers don’t actually like bowling. Certainly not the prospect of bowling. (Not that batsmen always like the prospect of batting either, mind; thus the existence of nightwatchmen).

No happier group of people will you find than a set of bowlers just informed that their captain has won the toss and elected to bat: feet up and time for a cup of tea.

Some in the Glamorgan dressing room could not disguise their glee. I would sometimes point out that, while they were celebrating, I was contemplating facing someone like Courtney Walsh. And that they might have to face him later, too. That soon shut them up.

But could England employ Jones on a similar short-game basis to Lee and Tait? Like the Australian pair, that would suit his body right now. He is not quite as quick as them, but he is quick enough. He can touch 90mph when roused. And he is definitely more skilful and accurate than Tait.

Among fast bowlers, England currently have impressive strength in depth, but they also have a fixture list so arduous that it might worry Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Last Sunday they were missing an entire first-choice attack.

If Jones can string some games together in the summer, he might well merit consideration. And why not?

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Chris Tremlett rewarded with incremental England contract for Ashes heroics

The 29 year-old was seen as something of a surprise selection when team director Andy Flower named his Test party to tour Australia, but he took his chance brilliantly following Stuart Broad's injury, taking 17 wickets in the series as he played the last three Tests of England's 3-1 triumph.

Incremental contracts are awarded on a points basis, with players needing to reach 20 points to be awarded one.

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England bowler James Anderson played through back pain during victorious Ashes series in Australia

The time away was well-deserved, for his leadership of the Ashes attack – to which he contributed 24 wickets at 26 apiece - was exemplary. But it was not solely a sympathetic reaction from England.

They also had an inkling that they could wear out their key fast bowler if they sent him straight into a one-day series.

If anyone doubted the dangers of England’s excessive workload, they only have to look at the redoubtable Tim Bresnan, who flew out of Sydney on Monday with a torn calf muscle.

Does Anderson think he would have broken down without the opportunity to get away?

“You never know,” he replied, “but I’m sure the more tired your body gets, the more chance of getting injured there is. I think the problem I had in Perth was taken into account with a big World Cup in mind.

"I’ve had a rest and I feel refreshed so I think it’s done me the world of good.”

A tireless worker in the gym, Anderson has maintained his fitness superbly over the last four years, especially by the standards of modern English fast bowling.

Not even the boot camp that left him with a broken rib in October, courtesy of a boxing bout with fast-bowling rival Chris Tremlett, could end a sequence of unbroken availability that stretches all the way back to the last Ashes tour.

The one Test series he has sat out was during the Bangladesh tour in March, when he was given leave to rest a mysteriously sore but hardly incapacitating right knee.

Otherwise, he has stayed mercifully free of leg injuries – the fast bowler’s usual curse.

Perhaps his secret is his lightweight build, which contrasts with the lumbering physiques of more muscular speedsters like Andrew Flintoff or Ryan Harris.

Or perhaps it is his economical action, which - unlike Darren Gough’s or Zaheer Khan’s - does not involve a high leap into the crease. Instead, he is more of a torso bowler, creating pace with a big snap from the upper body and waist

The former England bowling coach, Troy Cooley, tried to remodel Anderson’s delivery stride because it was seen as biomechanically incorrect and injury-prone – especially when he looks at the floor as he lets the ball go.

But it is only since Anderson reverted to his original, fluid style that he has rediscovered his knack for swing and turned himself into one of the finest pacemen in the world.

His return will come as a huge relief to Andrew Strauss and the rest of the England team, because they have won just one of the five international games they have played since he left Australia – and that only on the final ball.

To be fair to England’s back-up seamers, both Chris Tremlett and Ajmal Shahzad have performed admirably in Anderson’s absence. It is Strauss and his fellow batsmen who have let the side down, gifting their wickets via run-outs and long-hops slapped straight to fielders.

Still, Anderson’s extra experience and nous will nevertheless give Strauss an extra option in the middle of the innings. Had he been around to extend his hoodoo over the Australian openers, he might well have interrupted Shane Watson’s inspirational innings of 161 not out in the first one-day international in Melbourne.

Now 3-0 down in the 50-over games with four to play, England are effectively out of the running for the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. But they still need to regain a little pride, if only to avoid going into the Asian World Cup in a negative frame of mind.

“I think we’ve bowled pretty well all the way through [the one-day series],” Anderson said.

“But our batting’s probably not quite clicked and we haven’t had the big individual innings you need for a good total. The guys will be looking to step up and someone get a big hundred or a couple of guys get 80s.

“On Wednesday we’re looking to turn things round. If we get beat 7-0 it won’t do our confidence any good going into a World Cup and it will mean we’re not in good form as a team.

"This game will be good for us because we’re under a lot of pressure to win it and stay in the series. Hopefully it will recreate the situations we will face in the World Cup.”

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Australia women reclaim Ashes after seven-wicket victory over England in Sydney

Elliott and Alex Blackwell (74) shared a third-wicket stand of 125 as Australia, chasing 198 for victory, reached their target for the loss of three wickets to win back the Ashes after England's success in 2005.

England, who made 207 in their first innings, were dismissed for 149 on the third day paving the way for Australia, who only managed 159 in their first innings, to force a day four win after resuming on 29 for one.

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