Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell has sternly mentioned that England pacer James Anderson is not certain of being a starting member in the playing XI for the Ashes later this year, which will be played Down Under. Anderson, who endured a disastrous tour of India and missed the last Test at Chennai, hasn’t played competitive cricket in a while and will return to action only against South Africa, in the home Test series.
It must be noted that Anderson’s numbers in Australia inspire no confidence and seem rather ordinary. His new-ball partner Stuart Broad has outperformed him Down Under and could well lead the pace attack for the upcoming Australian summer. With an array of talented pacers like Chris Woakes, Jake Ball and Mark Wood emerging, Anderson indeed has tough competition ahead.
“I think he’s got a lot to prove in Australia and what he’s shown so far he might be lucky to hold a spot in Australia,” Chappell said to the media at an event “New ball partner Stuart Broad’s got a better record than him in Australia,” he added.
“Broad’s style of bowling is perhaps better suited to Australia and then when you’ve got Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes, I like the look of Mark Wood, Jake Ball is a pretty reasonable fast bowler, they’ve got a lot of good young quicks around so I wouldn’t see James Anderson as a certainty in the team. “I think he’ll come to Australia but I don’t necessarily see him as a certainty in the XI.”
Calling Anderson an underachiever in Australia, Ian Healy said,
“Then it’s a real Test of his stamina to bowl long, long spells in hot old Australia where the ball doesn’t swing for long when it’s brand new and doesn’t reverse as much as his England one ball reverses later on in the innings. “That Dukes ball gives the bowler a lot more pleasure than the Kookaburra ball – it’s hard to slog, flatter seam, not swinging as much. “You need to have some stamina and endurance and he hasn’t. “Basically, they come out here after their summer, so it’s hard work,” said Healy.