James Anderson celebrates birthday with 5 Pakistani wickets at Trent Bridge
James Anderson entered the second day of first test match as a birthday boy. It was his 28th birthday which he celebrated by picking up a five wicket haul. Earlier, Anderson had had a torrid time with the bat when Mohammad Asif caught him in front of the stumps for a golden duck, but his success with the ball made up for his batting.
The Pakistani batting line up was completely bamboozled by James’s quality swing bowling. "The day didn't start out great, but a few wickets at the end made up for it, and we finished on a happy note, Yesterday it swung and the pitch did help, and we knew if we were patient enough we'd get some nicks. So we tried to be as patient as possible, keep the runs down, and it paid off for us", he said.
Anderson said that weather conditions favoured his style of bowling. Pakistani batsmen negotiated Australian front line bowling very tactfully in previous test matches. It was only Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 or other part time bowlers that caused problems for them. In the case of this test match, their batting line up completely failed to negotiate English front-line bowling. Salman Butt was the first victim of James Anderson. The Pakistani skipper was full of praise for Anderson and said it was very difficult playing him. He said that James stood out in the English bowling attack and displayed complete control over his swing bowling. He further added that there are very few bowlers who can swing the bowl in both directions with such pace and control. Butt said, “I've seen at first hand that he was bowling with such control and I think it was an outstanding bowling performance".
Anderson after the match had a modest approach about his bowling feat. He said that bowling conditions were better today than they were yesterday. He said better conditions allowed him to pick up more edges. "I didn't think it swung as much as yesterday, which I think helped to get the edge more today, and all of us made best use of the conditions," he said. "There's a lot of pressure for our spots, with a big squad of players, so we've just got to keep putting in good performances".
Consistency has remained a problem for James Anderson over the years. There are times when he is absolutely superb but there are many days when he ends up wicket-less. On his 27th birthday, last summer, he was bowling in the Ashes series in Headingley and ended the day without a wicket. Anderson picked up his ninth five-wicket haul in almost 49 test matches.
This will definitely by a morale booster for Anderson who recently, questioned his value as a bowler for the English side. He made his disappointment public after being dropped for the English T20 campaign. He remained very inconsistent in ODI’s. His average economy rate was around 70 runs a match in the last series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747. But all of a sudden he bowls a magical spell. In one of the matches he bowled a superb spell and ended up with a figure of 3 for 22.
"Certain grounds do seem to swing every time, and Trent Bridge has been good to me the last couple of times I've been here", Anderson admitted. "I felt like I've been bowling pretty well, but just not getting the wickets that you think you deserve. But hopefully now towards the end of the season, I can give it a big push in this series and keep taking some".
James’s form will remain vital for the English squad, as they will play the all important Ashes series later this year. England’s bowling squad looks good with the likes of Steven Finn and Stuart Broad. Finn’s controlled line and length deliveries along with high kicking bouncers have only added strength to the English cause.
England’s bowlers will start the 3rd day of the first test in hope of imposing a follow on against Pakistan. English bowlers require another wicket to impose a follow on while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 need 8 runs to avoid it.
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