Andrew Strauss slams “naive” critics to defend James Anderson – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
England skipper, Andrew Strauss, defended out-of-form bowler James Anderson, who proved to be the most expensive bowler for England in their thrilling encounter against India on Sunday.
“Anyone who writes a guy of that quality off is pretty naive,” Strauss stated in a press conference on Monday.
Anderson took one wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s record-breaking opening batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, who smashed ten boundaries and five sixes to reach 120 off 115 balls. The right-arm medium-fast bowler gave 91 runs, including a no-ball and a wide in his span of 9.5 overs.
However, Strauss came out to the 28-year-old's defence, saying that it would be unfair on the talented bowler’s part to criticize him as he was opening with a new ball.
“Opening the bowling out here is hard work, and bowling most of your overs in powerplay is not easy,” the 34-year-old captain added.
The Bangalore crowd, which was graced by many Bollywood and unofficial hot-shots, witnessed a thrilling encounter between the two World Cup rivals that resulted in a tie when England managed to reach the target. India set a formidable target of 338 in 49.5 overs which was powered by Tendulkar and half-centuries by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 and Yuvraj Singh.
In reply, England looked all set to win when Strauss single-handedly guided the team to the brink of victory. Strauss blasted 158 runs off 145 balls, which included eighteen boundaries and a six. He batted for most of his side’s innings while the frustrated Indian bowlers tried hard to break the strong third-wicket partnership of Strauss and Ian Bell.
However, Strauss added that England had a poor batting powerplay towards the final overs that resulted in the dismissal of four wickets in five overs, contributing only 25 runs.
He elaborated that powerplay can affect the game in a big way, changing the track of the result completely. The man-of-the-match, however, stated that the result of the game was a bitter-sweet memory for the team, as they were “pleased and distraught” but added that the match will be a great ”advertisement” for One Day International cricket.
England and especially Anderson will seek to build on the successful momentum in their third Group B match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391, 2011 in Bangalore,
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