England skipper, Joe Root reckons that one can never write off a veteran campaigner like James Anderson. However, the latter has acknowledged that he was not at his best with a match haul of 1-67 during the hosts’ win in the first Test at his Old Trafford home ground last week. Anderson has now scalped just six wickets in three Tests so far this season at an expensive average of more than 40.

Talking about the same to the reporters, Root said, “Jimmy is likely to play, yes. To get that stuff off his chest and talked about has definitely helped him. With Jimmy, it won’t be long before he’s right back at the peak of his powers and I’m very much looking forward to him performing this week.”

Anderson required 10 more scalps in Test cricket in order to become the only fast bowler in the history of the game to take as many as 600 wickets in the longest format.

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Talking about the same, Joe Root said: “To question Jimmy’s ability and his record — do that at your own peril. There’s a reason he’s got so many wickets over such a long period of time: it’s because he’s a consistent performer. I don’t think it’ll be long until he’s back in the wickets big time.”

By contrast, Anderson’s new-ball partner Stuart Broad has been enjoying a purple patch currently as he scalped 22 wickets from three Tests at a miserly average of just over 12. However, Broad found himself in trouble when fined and received a demerit point as he was found in breach of the ICC code of conduct when for his abusive send-off of Yasir Shah after he dismissed the Pakistan tailender during the first Test.

To make matters more embarrassing for Broad, the punishment was imposed by his match referee father Chris, who is, unusually, officiating in matches involving the English team this season because of travel restrictions imposed on officials by COVID-19.

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Talkin about the same, Root said, “It was disappointing for that to happen. I’m sure that was a frosty conversation with his Dad, at some point, last week, but you know he’ll look to move on. He knows that he’s got to set an example.”