So then. Seven wickets on Test debut for Graham Onions. Here at TWC, we’re way above the obvious, so we’ll just quote Simon Barnes instead, “Onions ran rings round the West Indies batsmen. Onions sizzled at Lord’s yesterday. It’s hard cheese and Onions for West Indies. West Indies found Onions unpalatable. Strauss knows his Onions. West Indies got a stuffing with Onions. Onions put West Indies in a pickle. Onions cut West Indies off at source.”

But can he help us beat the Aussies, or the latest in a line of bowlers (Ed Giddins, James Kirtley, Richard Johnson please stand up) who have proved no more than an international flash-in-the-pan?! Dammit. We asked our panel.

Daniel Brigham

Assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer

It’s too early to say but he’s got the perfect threesome: skill, ability and cojones. When he gets into a rhythm it appears to become robotic and there’s no getting him out of it – something he clearly hasn’t learnt from Durham team-mate Steve Harmison.

He’s quicker than he was last year (although the speed gun at Lord’s seemed to be brown-nosing the bowlers) so won’t rely on swing as Ed Giddins did. With Anderson, Broad and Flintoff, Onions could be the missing link to a fearsome pace attack.

Benj Moorehead

Editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer

The question with Onions is: is he just a May-day bowler?

My instincts tell me yes. Pitching it up in the early season and he’ll get the bounce and swing to trouble most batsmen. But the thought of Onions bowling to the Australians later on in the year is one of carnage. He doesn’t strike me as a bowler who possesses the know-how variations of a Hoggard (few do, mind), something he’ll need when Plan A isn’t working. And given that on average he concedes something approaching four runs an over, it seems he can hardly contain when he’s not striking. There was a hint of this amid the flurry of tail-end wickets in the Lord’s Test (his economy rate was 4.74).

Now we’re on to stats, here’s something else to consider. Ninety-four of Onions’ first-class wickets in England have come in April and May at an average of 4.27 wickets per match. In the latter four months of the English season it is 66 wickets at 2.12 per match. It’s normal for fast bowlers to be less incisive as pitches get flatter over the season (I’ll leave it to the rest of you to come up with comparisons), but these figures are strikingly different.

Sam Collins

Web editor of thewisdencricketer.com

First impression: not up to it. But he improved as the Test wore on. He gets close to the stumps meaning he is always a threat against the left-handers and for lbws and bowls a deceptively quick lifting delivery. I still don’t think he has the raw materials needed to trouble batsmen on flat pitches – express pace and/ or bounce – but he has to be given the chance to fail, or , hopefully prove me totally wrong.

It will be difficult for any bowler to come in and influence an Ashes series straight away – Hoggard, Harmison and Flintoff had all taken a long time to adapt to Test cricket before starring in ’05. The man I would have turned to is Chris Tremlett. He really impressed me against India in 2007, but seems to have lost form and put some influential noses out of joint along the way.

Robin Martin-Jenkins

Sussex allrounder and TWC columnist

Technically speaking they are different styles of bowler. Ed Giddins was a skilful swing bowler who perhaps lacked a yard of pace at international level, whereas Onions is more of a hit-the-decker with more pace and skid. Onions is more likely to fit in to the current England regime than Giddins would have done (I have a feeling Andy Flower wouldn’t have appreciated his pre and post-match activities) so he has every chance of playing in the Ashes if he has another decent game this week.

Will he get Australian wickets? I see no reason why not. When in rhythm he is an accurate, aggressive bowler who can bowl long spells and has the ability to reverse the ball at pace if the conditions allow. The new Simon Jones if you like (minus the three knee operations a year). There – I wager I’ll be the only one on the summit not to have made any Onion puns. Oh ok then…I faced him last year and he hit me in the box. Brought tears to my eyes…

King Cricket

Blogger and Rob Key fan

He might help, but we can’t see him making a massive difference against Australia.

It’s difficult to see what Onions offers that other bowlers don’t. He’s not freakishly tall; he admits himself that he doesn’t particularly swing the ball, but relies on hitting the seam; and he generally bowls at about 86mph, like pretty much all of England’s bowlers, whether they’re considered ‘fast’ (Harmison), ‘fast-medium’ (Broad, Sidebottom) or ‘military medium’ (Tim Bresnan, who actually topped 90mph last week).

Andy Flower seems enamoured with Onions’ character and attitude, but those attributes are strongest when allied to something a bit more tangible. He’s kind of like England’s Andy Bichel or Michael Kasprowicz, which is no bad thing, but no great thing either. We won’t mind one bit if he proves us wrong on this, partly because being wrong comes quite naturally to us and we’ve been forced to embrace it.

Jrod

Convict and blogger at Cricketwithballs.com

There is no evidence that Graham Onions has taken cocaine, bet against his county or ever been called for chucking. In the Ed Giddins stakes he has clearly underperformed. He also has 318 Test wickets less than Bob Willis.

At the moment Graham Onions is no Willis or Giddins, but neither of them generated 3876 newspaper puns after one Test, a Test record.

He does appear to be a handy first change bowler, but we won’t know if he can bowl until he plays against an international team who really want to play in England under a captain who likes Test cricket.

Here’s hoping he is more Ed than Bob.