Ed Barnard still striving for England call-up
Shrewsbury’s Ed Barnard says he must work on his pace and his batting if he is to realise his dream of one day playing for England.
The Worcestershire all-rounder has been part of the England Under-19s and Lions set-ups, but is yet to graduate to the full senior team.
Despite having exactly 170 first-class, list A amd twenty20 matches under his belt, time is very much on 24-year-old Barnard’s side – and he has targeted specific improvements.
“I want to play international cricket and that is where I want to be,” he said in an interview with The Cricketer. “It’s trying to find that balance.
“I realise I’m not going to be a 90mph bowler, but if I could bowl a little bit quicker, that would help my aspirations. But then again, I don’t want to strive too much for that and then lose the skills that I have – doing what I do at the minute has been quite effective.
"But I do think that for me to find a route in, my batting is going to have to play a big part and I’m going to have to score more runs and become more effective with the bat. In international cricket, bowling as I do now wouldn’t be enough. Working on my batting is massive.”
Barnard also reflected on his cricket education at Shrewsbury and Shropshire as key to his rise – as well as that of several current and former Pears team-mates.
“It seems to have been a bit of a strong breeding ground recently,” he said. “For me, it all stems from my dad really. Me and my older brothers were always down there watching.
“We were lucky enough that when we were all in the first team at the same time, we were in a very strong side. It’s really nice. I still play for them when I can; it’s really nice to be able to go back and play in a strong club side, while also doing it for my home club.”
