This week has highlighted the depth in the England fast bowling department and the insecurity for the players that haven’t nailed down a place yet.

The team announcement for the third Ashes test at Old Trafford has sprung a few surprises.

Pace duo, Steven Finn and Graham Onions have been ousted in favour for Chris Tremlett and spinner Monty Panesar.

It completes a dramatic fall in fortunes for Finn who, in the first test, was a whisker away from a hat-trick when Australia captain, Michael Clarke, nearly nicked behind the Middlesex man’s inswinging beauty having already dismissed Shane Watson and Ed Cowan.

Golden age

It just goes to show the standards needed to nail down the final seamer spot behind James Anderson (right) and Stuart Broad in this golden age for English fast bowlers.

It’s clear there is no removing Anderson who is fast on his way to becoming England’s record wicket taker in test matches meanwhile Stuart Broad, when fit, is always one of the first names on the team sheet.

With Anderson and Broad there is a perfect combination; Anderson, the master of swinging a cricket ball is the leader of the attack and the most senior bowler and he is backed up by Nottinghamshire’s Stuart Broad with his aggressive shorter deliveries to unsettle the opposition.

England’s preference of a four-man bowling attack with three fast bowlers and single spinner mocks up the question as to who fills the third fast bowling slot.

The spinning equation is so much simpler; Graeme Swann is the main man whilst Panesar and James Tredwell provide the competition or more realistically, the injury cover.

Ever since Andy Flower was appointed England coach, a number of players have tried and failed to nail down the final spot.

Finn, Onions, Tremlett, one cap wonder-Ajmal Shahzad and current occupant Tim Bresnan (right) all have test caps and wickets.

Add those names to the regular performers in County Cricket, One Day internationals and the England Lions set up like Chris Woakes, Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker and Boyd Rankin and you have a long list of able contenders.

With the poor batting abilities of Anderson, the selectors would like to have a good all-rounder in that position.

This is why Tim Bresnan gets picked quite a lot; his batting average of 30 makes up for poorer bowling averages than his rivals, in the selectors eyes.

He consistently performs well when selected but doesn’t always have the ability to produce moments of magic.

This could also be where Onions falls further back; his marvellous county form for Durham isn’t always repeated on the international stage where his swinging ability is often overshadowed by Anderson.

Finn, has always taken a lot of wickets in all formats. He, with the more inexperienced Meaker aside, is the quickest bowler England have had in recent times and often produces magic spells but when things go bad, they go really bad and has an unhealthy economy rate and opposition batsman often try to target him.

Tremlett (right)has replaced Finn for now and has similar properties; a tall bowler who likes testing batsman with bouncers. However he isn’t as quick as Finn which allows him to be a lot more accurate.

So at the moment we have quite a conundrum, with age on his side, 24 year-old Finn is likely to be the long term beneficiary as long as we works on the poorer sides of his game but if the extra batsman issue is so important for the selectors then Chris Woakes is likely to come into contention more in the coming years.

With Anderson and Broad still a long, long way from being close to retirement, expect this bowling slot to be as insecure in time for the next summer Ashes in four years’ time as it is now.

Apart from the world’s top team South Africa who currently have a world class trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, no other teams have as much quality fast bowling as England does.

Australia’s attack have shown potential but inexperience, neighbours New Zealand have similar issues.

The sub-continent’s flat pitches means that countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan struggle to consistently produce brilliant fast bowlers and focus more on spinners, of which there are many world class slower bowlers in this region.

It must be almightily frustrating to be an England fast bowler at the moment, knowing that they would most likely be a regular and star performer in any other test nation.