BOWLING coach Matt Mason believes the England selectors could do a lot worse than taking a look at on-song Worcestershire all-rounder Gareth Andrew.

Former New Road seamer Mason, who took up a coaching role with the club after retiring from playing, believes 29-year-old Andrew could be exactly what England are looking for in the shorter formats of the game.

Aside from a tour of Australia with England under 17s in 2001, the Yeovil-born all-rounder, who this month signed a new two-year contract with the County, has so far been overlooked by the international selectors despite a string of impressive limited-overs performances with both bat and ball.

Prior to undergoing surgery on a knee injury two winters ago, Andrew finished second to Marcus Trescothick in the FTI Professional Cricketers’ Association MVP rankings after claiming 82 wickets and scoring 1,000 runs in all competitions.

“You look at guys like Luke Wright and, in my opinion, Gaz is at least as talented as him, if not more so,” Mason declared.

“For me, Gaz is a player who should be looking to play higher than this level.

“If you think of modern-day cricket, there is definitely a need for an 85mph fast bowler who can also hit the ball over the boundary at will.

“All that he has lacked is probably a little bit of consistency with the ball.

“This year, for whatever reason, he has found a great line and length, his confidence is high and Gaz has always been better when he bowls lots of overs, so he is enjoying playing all forms.”

As far as the stock of New Road bowlers at his disposal are concerned, Mason has seen plenty of encouraging signs so far this term.

He added: “Alan Richardson has had frustrating times so far this season by not getting the wickets he would have liked, but he has bowled very well.

“Opposition batsmen seem to have worked out that they just have to sit on him and try to take the opportunities to score off the guys at the other end.

“Al is the consummate professional and does everything he has to in order to make sure he is fit.

“I think we’ll see him go for another year or two beyond this one as well.

“With Jack Shantry, it is a pleasure to say you don’t need to coach him — he coaches himself.

“He knows he’s unique and he and I embrace that. One thing we’ve always said is that we will never talk technique and I think one thing that makes Jack the challenge he is is that he is different.

“There is no tougher competitor in our squad than Jack — he loves and thrives on the pressure of one-day cricket and he is ideal to bowl in powerplays or at the death.

“An all-rounder that people won’t have seen a lot of is Joe Leach, who has come on really well. I’ve been really impressed with his efforts with the ball — he has put on a yard of pace and is a lot fitter than he’s ever been.

“He’s taking wickets and getting runs for the twos and recently took four-for and hit 60-odd in the same match, so he is putting pressure on.”