Bright Future Is Carved In Stone

Dan Barnes meets up with Warwickshire chief Jim Troughton and discovers his fears of losing his star performer.

- Dan Barnes

So often this season, ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ has been the soundest advice when watching Olly Stone send another rip-roaring delivery hurtling down the crease.

The bittersweet irony of the 24-year old paceman’s England call-up is that if he tears through Sri Lanka this winter much in the same way he has Division Two orders this term, then his Warwickshire colleagues – Jim Troughton for one – will miss him dearly in seasons to come.

First-team coach Troughton will be among the interested onlookers from afar as Stone takes his place in both England’s one-day international and Test squads this winter.

He boasted a 92mph delivery and totted up a County Championship strike-rate of one wicket every 22 balls this summer.

And with Stone having overcome a debilitating anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2016, Troughton believes he deserves everything that comes his way.

“This is the trade-off we want to create. The trade-off is we probably won’t see him ever again now,” said Troughton, who featured in six ODIs for England himself.

“If he’s successful this winter, I’m sure England will be contracting him up and making sure he’s absolutely tip-top for them.

“He found out about his call-up when we were playing Sussex down at Hove [on September 18] and it was during the game.