Tremlett desperate for Oval chance

Chris Tremlett is keen to bowl against Australia
19 August 2013

Chris Tremlett promises he can return on his home ground this week as the same bowler who intimidated Australia with his pace and bounce on the way to England's 2010/11 Ashes glory.

Tremlett played the last of his 11 Tests to date 19 months ago, before the latest in his succession of injuries again interrupted his career.

The 31-year-old Surrey paceman stands an obvious chance, however, of replacing Tim Bresnan in the fifth and final Investec Test against Australia at the Kia Oval after being named in a 14-man squad.

Tremlett did not join forces in England's historic first Ashes series victory in Australia since 1986/87 until the third Test in Perth - but he went on to take 17 wickets in the remaining matches.

It has been a long road back to fitness since he then broke down in the desert against Pakistan in early 2012, but 6ft 8in Tremlett insists he has made no concession to his physical fragilities when it comes to his methods in the middle.

"I'm still looking to be the same type of bowler as I was before my injury," he said.

Tremlett has not been terrorising batsmen on a regular basis so far this summer, but insists that when he got the right conditions - in Surrey's LV= County Championship fixture against Yorkshire at Headingley - he was a handful, albeit one who returned unflattering match figures of two for 127.

"Some of the pitches have been slow, so it might not have showed the ball carrying through.

"But the bounciest wicket I've played on this year was at Headingley ... and it showed me that, when the wickets are right and I get the ball in the right areas, I can still be that bowler.

"I've had a lot of time out through injury, and it's taken time to find my rhythm again and get back into shape.

"As the season has gone on, the better I've bowled.

"My figures might not suggest that on paper - but the last three or four championship games I've played in, I've been up near my best."

It will be reward for his long months on the sidelines if Tremlett does return on Wednesday, in front of his Surrey crowd, with England on the brink of a first-ever 4-0 Ashes victory in a home series.

He acknowledges, though, that it is not yet a certainty that he will simply replace the injured Bresnan - because England have left themselves with several permutations.

"It's been a long time coming ... I'm dying to get an opportunity at some point.

"England are aware what I can do, but it probably depends on conditions which way they go ... I hope I'll be the guy playing in Tim Bresnan's spot."

Either way, Tremlett is delighted to be fit and in the reckoning again.

"Obviously it was really frustrating to be injured after the success I had.

"It's always frustrating to go out of the team because of injury rather than a lack of form.

"That's been the case throughout my England career - it's always been injury that has set me back.

"But it's always driven me on to keep trying, and I've always believed I can compete at that level.

"That motivation has always kept me going, even though I've had some dark and testing times coming back from injury."

The best may be yet to come too, with a return to former glories in the offing down under this winter.

Tremlett knows he cannot start thinking about that just yet, though. "I'd love to be involved again in Australia - it was a great experience last time - but it's about the Test coming up, not going to Australia."

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