by It could be the best £4.50 James Anderson has ever spent. He has spent the last six months working out why his lofty standards dipped in last summer’s Ashes and decided it was time for the 41-year-old to rework.
To help with this, Anderson used a public running track near Manchester City’s Emirates Stadium, paying his fee at the door to do so like other runners, before working through speed drills which he believes will help with his approach to the belt.
Anderson took five wickets in four Tests and averaged 85 against Australia, and rarely looked threatening. A combination of injuries at the start of the series came with some unhelpful surfaces (“Kryptonite” he called them in his part). Sports telegraph column) got off to a slow start and never really took off. With Stuart Broad exiting the big stage in style, it naturally caused many to think that Anderson should do the same but he was determined to carry on, believing it to be a one-off blip .
‘I don’t think I was bad in the Ashes, but I wasn’t threatening’
He had not played competitively since the Oval Ashes Test and did not pick up the ball again until October. Now he is back refreshed and ready to go to India for five Tests where conditions will be even tougher for seamers than anything they faced in the Ashes when the series starts in Hyderabad on January 25. To help alone, Anderson has decided that after 183 Tests , 690 wickets and over 20 years in international cricket, he needs to reshape the most fundamental aspect of a bowler’s technique: his era. The rest of us might not notice a discernible change, but it feels different to him.
“I have tried to look at the ashes honestly. I don’t think I moved badly, but at the same time I didn’t feel threatened either,” he says. Sports telegraph. “The ball was not swung. The pitches were not particularly suitable for me but I have prided myself on taking wickets in the past when the conditions are not in my favour. India is a place where conditions won’t favor seamers but I’ve been there before and had success, so I’m just trying to marry that and make sure I’m in a good place.
“The biggest thing that bothers me is, don’t try to make sure it’s better. One thing that wasn’t right was my running pace. I can’t rely on that quick burst at the erosion I’ve had over the years so I’m working on my momentum as I run up to get up to speed like that. That feels like he’s working really well, the ball is coming out really well and I just need to transfer that outside now.
“What’s worked well for me is mixing up training, making sure he’s not doing the same thing over and over again. Things like working on running technique and speed I have to do a bit more than most people going to my age. I have to cover all bases to make sure I’m in a good place when I get to India.”
‘I don’t see why I should finish just because of my age’
Anderson will not feel Broad’s absence much, as the retirement has gradually come to an end. Broad did not go to Pakistan last winter and both rotations have been in recent years. However, that put Anderson’s future in the spotlight, and he was a little nervous about whether he would be handed another central contract. A one-year contract was offered and accepted.
“Sounds brutal but you just have to move on,” he tells Broad. “No thought crossed my mind about finishing. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me congratulating me on a great career but I always have to explain that it was Stuart, not me.
“I still feel I have a lot to offer this team. I wouldn’t still be doing what I’m doing if I didn’t feel that way. I still feel I have the skills to win England cricket matches and as long as I feel that way, I don’t see why I should finish because of my age. The training I’ve done this winter, I think age is just a number. Cricket is a numbers game and people will always look at my age when it comes up on the screen when I bowl but it doesn’t matter to me. It’s how you feel as a cricketer and I know I can still dive on the pitch and change the ball just like I’ve done for the last 20 years.
“I feel that the last 5-6 years have been the best of my career. Although the Ashes didn’t go as well as I wanted, there have been many series where I haven’t bowled well in my life and I just have to work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again. “
‘We may even open with two spinners in India’
The Indian pitches will challenge the Bazballers. Getting 20 wickets has been one of the main drivers of the Ben Stokes era, his field positions and innovative tactics will be put to the test if the pitches are level. If there is an intelligent spin that will help England, who will see it as a leveler for their spinners. The four killers in the squad will be rotated – Anderson, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson and Gus Atkinson.
Wood and Atkinson provide shock speed, Robinson and Anderson the reverse swing skills that could be crucial. It feels like they could be a light seamer in the squad, Stokes can bowl and three of the four either knock on in age or injury-a good chance. The other, Atkinson, is an unknown quantity. There is no specialist Seam bowling coach on this tour, and Brendon McCullum has often said why does the team need one when Anderson is in the dressing room to pass on his experience?
“That’s been my role for a while anyway, stepping into that mentoring role as a senior person. I have a duty to pass information on to people. We have bowlers who have not bowled in India before, so it will be another challenge for them. We must help where we can.
“There are only four sailors going so we won’t be expecting a big seam to bowl. It’s just a slightly different role. You may not bowl the eyebrows that you do in England but they are still important. It probably adds more importance to spells you bowl. These are the things we will pass on to the guys. Reverse swing will play a big role. There may be occasions when we do not open with a seamer. We might open with two spinners. So your role changes a lot, you come in the third or fourth innings with batsmen set in. That’s the challenge of playing in India.”
Anderson’s record in India is good: 39 wickets with 29. He bowled a brilliant spell of reverse swing to help win the first Test on the last tour but the spinning pitches India prepared there were too much. This will be a tough tour, seven weeks in India playing at some of the less fashionable venues with little preparation, while England will have a selection week in Abu Dhabi against local opposition. A modern trend that will not change.
“I’m more excited going into this tour than previous trips to India. It’s been a real slog in the past and we’ve tried to grind it out,” he says. “We will try to play the same way as the last two years but be smart about it. Something we’ve tried to progress is to play that aggressive style but learn what works in different conditions. There was no one down on us to win 3-0 in Pakistan and we can take a lot of confidence from that. The conditions could be similar, not identical, but slow wickets for seamers and we have to be smart.”
