England vs West Indies: James Anderson backs fellow bowlers after Stuart Broad’s exclusion despite tame start to first Test
That West Indies carry a 99-run first innings lead in this first Test is no surprise to James Anderson. But the 37-year old has urged England to fight back after what have been three unremarkable days for the hosts at the Ageas Bowl.
Anderson’s three for 62 and 25 overs marked his competitive return to bowling after 2020’s first Test in South Africa, in which he sustained a rib injury. Now fully recovered, the return to the grind was welcome, even though England’s lacklustre innings of 204 all out and West Indies’ response of 318 was not.
“The West Indies have had the best of the first few days, certainly,” said Anderson. “We’re up against it a little bit, so we know exactly what we’ve got to do. It’s not been our best performance with the bat or ball to be honest in the last few days, so we’ve got work to do in the next couple.”
Were it not for Ben Stokes’ four for 49, things might have been a lot worse for England’s quicks on what Anderson referred to as a “new ball pitch”, where seam and bounce disappeared once the ball got soft. Stokes’ effort of 14 overs and the general burden of captaincy had already taken a slight physical toll, with Anderson bringing news of a bruised toe for the stand-in skipper.
But the more emotionally bruised were the other quicks – notably Stuart Broad, who admitted to being “angry, frustrated and gutted” at being left out of the XI for this match. His absence, beyond what he might have offered with the ball, was more pronounced for Anderson given the pair have played 116 Tests together. As such, he can understand his colleague’s frustration.
“We’ve played a lot together, so having him at mid-off has been a familiar sight for me when I’ve been bowling. So it was odd not having him there, but someone was going to be disappointed and I’m sure throughout this series we’ll have bowlers that are disappointed to miss out.
“But as we’ve got such strength and depth, people are going to have to miss out at times. And I’m sure he’ll use this as fuel to sort of push on and when he does get the nod he’ll perform brilliantly.”
Anderson also offered reassurance to Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, both of whom were given the nod ahead of Broad for their extra pace but struggled to make an impact despite bowling the quickest spells of the match. Their 22 overs apiece produced just one wicket for Wood, who bowled Kemar Roach to finish West Indies’ first innings, while Archer had one ruled out when he overstepped the front line when seemingly claiming Shai Hope for LBW in the first session.
“I thought they bowled really well,” said Anderson of his team-mates. “We all found it tricky at times. You have days like this in Test cricket when things don’t quite go your way.
“Jofra, getting a wicket off a no-ball, if he gets that, his confidence goes up and he could get on a roll then. Similarly with Woody, I felt he bowled well in periods and on another day he could have had more wickets. It’s just one of those things in Test cricket.
“The exciting thing, from a bowler’s point of view, is you know you’ve got the second innings and another opportunity to get some wickets.”
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