ALTHOUGH he could be something special because he appears to have the ability to reverse-swing the nearly new ball better than anybody apart from Simon Jones, Sajid Mahmood is only one among a crop of young fast bowlers who have emerged in England in the new millennium.

If there is a country with better fast-bowling resources, it is doing a good job of hiding it. While a first-choice Test team might field Andrew Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Jones, behind them lie capable understudies — Mahmood, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Liam Plunkett and Rikki Clarke, all of whom have savoured the limelight of international cricket. Then, untested but clutching glowing references, come Stuart Broad at Leicestershire, Mark Footitt at Notts and Tom Smith at Lancashire.

And this is before we even get on to the more seasoned brigade, including Jonathan Lewis, who thoroughly know their trade but at about 30 years of age are perhaps not going to improve.

This is the type on which Australia have recently relied so heavily (Stuart Clark, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz) but that is because they have so few options.

England’s travails of the 1990s had much to do with the dearth of durable fast bowlers. In a time before central contracts, the toll of playing constant county cricket severely depleted what resources there were. Now, when injuries strike, as they inevitably do in this department, reserves appear to be plentiful.

Apart from central contracts, the main reason for the transformation is the establishment in 2001 of the national cricket academy, designed as a finishing school (or at least starting school) for the brightest talent. Programmes in training, diet and fitness were established, while a fast-bowling coach was appointed, first Troy Cooley, now Kevin Shine.

When he was asked whom he wanted sent to the academy’s first intake, England coach Duncan Fletcher replied: “I don’t care who you take, as long as Harmison and Jones go.” They duly went and the next year made their Test debuts, although it was not until 2004 that they played their first Test together.

So although Mahmood is new to Test cricket, he has been known for at least three years. Rod Marsh, the first academy director, was a big fan from an early stage, liking his pace, accuracy and movement.

In 2003 Mahmood put Flintoff out of two Tests after smashing him on the shoulder in net practice. A year later he was doing enough with the ball to be a success on an England A tour of India when many teammates were struggling.

A key stage in his development, and a sign that he was nearing full England recognition, was joining Jones on another academy-style trip to India in January this year, where they and Footitt worked on reverse swing.

Given Jones’s poor fitness record, the emergence of another reverse-swinger could be hugely significant for England’s chances in the future.

As Fletcher has long emphasised, speed, swing and bounce are the golden ingredients for fast bowlers. Speed, especially, is vital: it beats reactions, and it requires speeds of about 90mph for the ball to reverse-swing to a marked extent. That is why there are reservations about whether Lewis, who swings the ball conventionally but struggles to get it much above 80mph, can be a success at Test level.

Crucially, Hoggard, the slowest of England’s first-choice fast bowlers, stands 6ft 2in and still commands bounce. Tremlett, who has so far been denied a Test debut by injury problems, is 6ft 7in and makes the ball climb so much in nets that England players have said he is even more awkward than Harmison. Broad, 6ft 6in, ought to develop into no less of a handful. Clarke is 6ft 4in.

Even if their Big Four are available, England may want to take two out of Mahmood, Broad and Tremlett to the bouncier turf of Australia’s pitches, which would give them a complement of six bruisers standing 6ft 3in or more.

West Indies were once famed for their conveyor-belt of fast-bowling giants.

That reputation may soon be England’s.