England’s veteran pacer and one of the greatest of all time - James Anderson has taken on captain Joe Root over his assessment of the defeat in the Adelaide Test. Contrasting Root’s claims about the bowlers not hitting correct lengths, Anderson has put the blame straight back on the batters for not putting enough runs on board.
Arguing that it was one of the flattest Adelaide surfaces ever produced, Anderson in his column for the Telegraph pointed out that the English bowlers did create chances but they weren’t taken.
“We did not bat well enough on a pitch where the data said it was one of the flattest Adelaide surfaces ever produced and the pink ball did the least it has ever done in a day-night game,” Anderson, 39, wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
“From a bowlers’ point of view you want to be hitting the right lengths all the time. We did our best on the first two days to do that … Maybe we could have gone a touch fuller at times but we still created quite a few chances that were not taken.”
Anderson insinuated that it was not very gentlemanly of Root to go after the bowlers at the end of the second Test and rather the entire group should have been asked to be more proactive.
“We have to be better at assessing it during a game. We can’t just go after the game, ‘we should have bowled fuller’… We have to be a bit more proactive at that too as a whole group.”
James Anderson has only played one Test match in the series where he picked up three wickets after toiling for 39 overs in two innings. He was benched for the first Test match at the Gabba despite not having any injuries.
Coming into the series, Anderson had been vocal that he wanted to play all five Test matches in Australia, but the team management does not seem to be on board with that idea.
England are suffering an injury crisis in the pace bowling department with Jofra Archer out of the series owing to an elbow surgery. His replacement Mark Wood is also facing fitness issues that have put questions on his availability for the Boxing Day Test.
England have called up Saqib Mahmood for the final three Test matches of the series.