England's decision to call Olly Stone up when Dillon Pennington went down with a hamstring injury underlined their belief in the value of high pace at Test level. Essex's Sam Cook has been the outstanding seamer in the County Championship over the last few seasons, but Stone's ability to hit speeds of 90mph/145kph won him a spot in the 14-man squad.
Cook has only played six of Essex's nine Championship matches this season due to a minor hamstring injury, but has taken 29 wickets at 13.62. He has since recovered, and closed out a win for Trent Rockets in the Hundred on Wednesday night. Stone, by contrast, has 10 wickets at 47 for Nottinghamshire - yet finds himself in the mix for selection against Sri Lanka.
England paired Gus Atkinson with Mark Wood during their 3-0 whitewash against West Indies with great success. Atkinson finished his debut Test series with 22 wickets at 16.22 in three Tests, with Wood managing nine at 20 despite a luckless performance at Trent Bridge. With the long-term target of the 2025-26 Ashes, England want two genuine quicks in any given team.
"We've gone like-for-like [for Pennington] with Olly Stone," Ben Stokes, their captain, explained this week, before a Hundred game on Sky Sports. "It's great to see him back bowling again. He's had some injury issues and he's got through that, and it's great to see him back in the side. When he has played for England, he's done really well, and he does bowl quick - and we obviously like that."
For Stone, the most important statistic this season has not been his wicket tally, but his volume of overs after three injury-plagued years. He has bowled 132.2 of them in the Championship, 44 in the T20 Blast - where he was ever-present for Nottinghamshire - and a further 80 balls in the Hundred to date, taking four wickets for London Spirit.
"It's been brilliant," Stone told ESPNcricinfo this week. "Obviously I've had a torrid time with injuries. I've been out there wanting to play for Notts and enjoy it. I knew if I did that, then maybe the phone call would come - and thankfully, it has. I'm just loving playing cricket again and putting a run of games together. I've found a way, this year, to keep going."
Injuries have limited Stone to three Tests but he performed creditably in them, with a career record of 10 wickets at 19.40. He has been on England's radar ever since, and the Sri Lanka series will be his second experience with the Test team under Stokes and Brendon McCullum's leadership, following a tour to New Zealand in early 2022.
He did not play either match in that series, but Stone felt emboldened by the management's focus on attacking cricket. "I loved it. They told me to just go about my business the way I play my cricket; that I got selected for a reason, and not to go away from that. I sat down and asked, 'is there anything I could do to get closer to the team?'
"They were like, 'you just keep doing you, and regardless of numbers, if we feel like we want you as part of our seam attack, then we'll come calling.' It's nice to know that maybe you haven't got to go out there and get 50 wickets at 15 or whatever to get that call-up. It's a case of just wanting to run in, be aggressive, and enjoy it."
Stone has tried to manage himself through four-day games this season and is understandably conscious of his fitness record: he turns 31 in October, but has still only played 51 first-class matches. "I feel like I've tried, this year, to go through the gears a little bit," he explained. "I felt like I've bowled better than the numbers have said.
"But I've always tried to use my pace as my tool and my weapon. There have been times this year where I've gone out there and really let it go. Maybe at other times, the pictures haven't suited that. I feel like it's coming out nicely. I'm just trying to enjoy playing, because I know that if I enjoy it and relax and go out there, then the pace will come with that."
Stone's injury record means that he cannot afford to look too far ahead but England would doubtless love him to be fit and firing when they pick their Ashes touring party at the end of next summer. He was in their squad for the drawn 2019 series, but withdrew after a back stress fracture. "It'd be nice to get that phone call, but I'm just taking every game as it comes," he said.
It is worth keeping an eye on Stone's batting, too. He looked a spot high at No. 8 in his most recent Test appearance, against New Zealand, but has three half-centuries in his seven Championship innings this season, including a career-best 90. It would be a significant boost to his chances of a regular spot if he could reliably contribute lower-order runs.