England pace bowler James Anderson said that his lack of friendship with the Australian players helps him maintain a distance prior to the upcoming Ashes series. The mega event is all set to get underway at Edgbaston starting on Friday, June 16. However, Anderson has played 179 Tests for England, claiming 685 wickets at an average of 25.99 with 32 five-wicket hauls as well. The veteran is England’s leading wicket-taker in Tests and third all-time behind only Sri Lankan Wizard Muthiah Muralidaran and Australian late great Shane Warne as well.
Before the upcoming Ashes series, Anderson told the Telegraph sport: “I just like not knowing them away from cricket, not being mates with them. I just like seeing them as an opponent and really trying to get into the battle against them. I don’t think it has happened yet but the amount of cricket played in franchise cricket with the mix of nationalities could in the future take the edge away from the spark you get in the Ashes.”
However, James Anderson has featured in the Ashes since the 2006/07 series in Australia and he has picked up 112 wickets against the Aussies with five 5-wicket hauls as well. His best bowling figures were 6/47 in the third Test at Edgbaston in 2015 as well.
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“I just want to win the Ashes again. It feels like a long time since I’ve been involved in a winning Ashes. Whenever I play against Australia they try and play fire with fire. They come back even harder at you. Usually that ends with England backing down, perhaps not this time. I am guessing Ben will want to go even harder. He will want to be more positive, more aggressive and really take it to Australia,” added Anderson.
James Anderon also applauded the combination of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, crediting them for the clarity in roles in the team and the excellent atmosphere the duo has made for the England team as well. However, they made wonders as England won 10 of the 12 Tests so far, playing an aggressive brand of cricket.
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“The great thing about both of them is the relaxed approach to everything whether it is selection or injuries. A captain and coach stressing about team selection, pitches or things like that has a knock-on effect so their manner really does filter through the team and makes everyone else feel comfortable. I have really enjoyed this environment, having fun around practice, messing around with different things in training,” said Anderson. I remember back to practice we had at the Oval last summer, me and Ben were messing about in the middle, trying different angles to our run ups and trying to swing the ball more than the other one. Just having fun around it. They want us to attack, take wickets and to try different things that might not be in our armoury. It’s just thinking constantly about how you are going to get the batter out,” James Anderson concluded.
