James Anderson aiming for a win as Sydney Test enters exciting phase
English fast bowler James Anderson is confident that his team would take the Ashes series 3-1 after bowling out the hosts on day two of the fifth and final Test for 280 runs.
The English team started their first innings confidently in reply and reached 167-3 by the close of day 2 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Anderson is himself at the crease playing the night watchman role. He came into bat at the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen who fell to Mitchell Johnson in the dying moments of an enthralling day of cricket.
Earlier the hosts were sent packing for 280 runs. They could have been dismissed for a lot less than what they eventually got had it not been for the 76-run partnership put up by Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus for the ninth wicket.
Anderson feels that the partnership frustrated his team as they were expecting to run through the tail quickly.
He added that Johnson was not a tail-ender and a contribution with the bat was always expected from him.
“I wouldn't call Mitchell Johnson a tail ender - he's a very competent batsman," said Anderson. “We saw reasonably early on that he was hitting the ball well, so we decided we wanted to bowl at Hilfenhaus and Beer. I think we had every
right to [do what we did]. We still had two or three slips to Johnson but just had an in-out field to him - and then attacked the other guy.”
On the other hand, Anderson lauded the positive approach of his captain Andrew Strauss calling him an aggressive batsman who always led the team from the front with his approach with the bat.
"It's been a massive thing for us to be getting off to good starts," said Anderson. "It just settles the dressing-room down when you know it could be a nervy start with the new ball doing a bit, and when you see those guys leaving the ball
really well and putting away the bad ball, it gives everyone a lot of confidence. I honestly just think that Straussy is quite a positive batsman, no matter what form of cricket he is playing."
England would be relying on more exploits from Anderson in the second Australian innings as they aim to seal a 3-1 series win.
The Sydney win would be icing on the cake on what has been an incredible tour for Strauss, Anderson and rest of the squad who won the Ashes downunder for the first time since 1986-87.
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