Bone broth and notebooks – meet England’s latest bowling recruit

Sonny Baker is rarely short of words.

With the great James Anderson a Hundred team-mate for a month, England’s newest pace bowler has had to rein it in.

“I’ve been fairly self-conscious,” he tells BBC Sport.

“I know I ask a lot of questions, so I’ve been trying to ease him into that and not just spray him straight away.”

When the 22-year-old received a phone call from an unknown number on Friday morning – a number that it later became clear belonged to England coach Brendon McCullum who was about to give him his first international call-up – for once, Baker was truly tongue-tied.

“I said to him ‘I promise I’m normally more talkative than this. I’m just a bit lost for words’,” says Baker.

Baker, who grew up in Devon and switched his cricketing home from Somerset to Hampshire last year, loves talking and fast bowling is his favourite topic.

Whether tactics, the mechanics of an action or looking after his body, the Hampshire quick is a self-confessed bowling nerd.

At times, it pushes the boundaries.

He drinks bone broth every day in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the back stress fractures that dogged the early part of his career.

“You basically put bones in boiling water, the same as a slow cooker, and it just dissolves the minerals out of the bone,” he says. “You get collagen in there as well.

“If you chuck root veg or whatever in there, a bit of black pepper, it tastes quite nice.

“I think it has made a big difference.”

Baker had his first stress fracture at 17, at which point he was considering a career as a teacher.

After impressing in Australia with England Lions last winter, he was awarded an England development contract in February before he had played a match in the County Championship.

A Division One debut came in April – a first five-wicket haul a week later. But it has been while playing for Manchester Originals in The Hundred that Baker has really caught the eye.

David Warner was hopping when Baker opened with five consecutive dots while no-one, not even England bowler Jofra Archer, has bowled more balls quicker than 87mph than Baker – a statistic that makes the youngster grin.

“It’s what I find fun about the game,” Baker says. “The injuries I’ve had have almost given me clarity on that.

“Some days you’re going to go for runs and it would be so much easier if I bowled 70mph nibblers.

“I could know where it’s going, balls wouldn’t get edged to four, I’d go for a lot less and suddenly I wouldn’t feel so rubbish in myself.

“But you also wouldn’t have those days where it starts reverse swinging and everyone’s thinking ‘give this kid the ball. Let’s go’ and come out of the bar to watch.

“It’s the trade-off, isn’t it? I know that it’s likely to come with more injuries. I’m at peace with that.”

Others have not been as fortunate as Anderson when it comes to Baker’s fulfilling his thirst for knowledge.

He remains refreshingly enthusiastic and during The Hundred in 2022 chewed the ear of Pakistan quick Wahab Riaz.

He also used his contacts to track down and phone up Brett Lee and Shaun Tait – two of the quickest bowlers Australia has ever produced.

“Earlier in my career I, not asked questions for the sake of asking them, but I didn’t know what answers I was trying to get,” he says.

Baker is also a prolific note-maker, something he puts down to his education.

At the time of his first stress fracture he was targeting a place to study biology at the University of Oxford and now he records analysis on opposition batters in a little book, along with plans and hopes for the future.

“I’ve just found it keeps me involved in the analysis stuff and then really remember it,” Baker says.

“It would be an absolute nightmare if you’re not really sure whether you’re meant to bowl wide or straight and then you pick the wrong one.

“You can’t really justify that to yourself at the end of the game.”

The Hundred means there is already a page in Baker’s notebook titled with the name of an Australian great.

Of the 12 balls Baker bowled to Steve Smith when Welsh Fire hosted Manchester Originals last Monday, three were hit for four and another three resulted in a false shot.

“It has been surreal, writing notes on Steve Smith thinking ‘am I actually going to be opening the bowling at him?'” Baker says.

This is the company Baker now keeps, however and, having rehabbed in Sydney after his most recent back injury, he has spent the past two winters in Australia.

Another will likely come this year with the young quick expected to be part of the Lions squad shadowing the Test team around the Ashes series.

From there anything can happen.

Far more unlikely names have been plucked by England to make a Test debut down under.

“I mean, that would be good fun, wouldn’t it?” Baker says.

“I’ll refer back to notes on any matters and Steve Smith is one of the red-ball GOATs [greatest of all-time] so I’d definitely be coming back to that analysis if I end up needing it.

“But let’s just worry about the next few games first. Let’s not get too far out of ourselves.