England’s record wicket-taker shines on return in place of Stuart Broad but there is an argument Joe Root’s attack would be more effective with the pair bowling in tandemJimmy Anderson, bloody hell. Six for 40, in fierce heat, while everyone else managed four for 339. His best haul in Asia, 17 years after he first played there. The first five-for recorded in an Asian Test by a 38-year-old seamer. I could go on, but it is only 24 hours since this space was last devoted to Anderson’s excellence.Happily, there is another angle here that is just as interesting: the ramifications of rotation. On England’s Sri Lanka tour, Anderson and Stuart Broad are sharing a place in the starting XI. It...
Since making an impression for England’s under-19s in 2005, his style has evolved while he keeps taking plenty of wicketsThe Sunday after the Lord’s Test in 2005, England’s under-19 team played a one-day game against Sri Lanka at New Road. It was a forgettable business except that Chris Broad’s boy, Stuart, was making his debut and the few spectators there were all chatting about it. He would have stood out anyway, since he was so big and had a shock of blond hair, but they were curious to see the son of someone famous play, someone famous who’d seemed to have stopped playing himself only yesterday. They said the boy had only recently taken up bowling, that he had been...
Having tilted the second Test back in England’s favour, the paceman tore into West Indies’ top order on the final dayIt might be that by the time the expedition made it back to St Louis, Clark had got to wondering why Lewis’s name always came first. After 10 movies, Rogers definitely felt a little resentment towards Astaire. And when Martin and Lewis broke up their partnership after 10 years they didn’t speak to each other again for another 20. It’s not always easy being yoked so close, so long. But it has its benefits, particularly in cricket. Ask Hall and Griffith, Lillee and Thomson, Waqar and Wasim, Ambrose and Walsh, McGrath and Gillespie, or, of course, Anderson and Broad, best...
Jimmy Anderson could lose his seam partner should the tourists opt for horses for courses in GalleThis is a special place for a Test match. Two sides of Galle’s cricket ground are flanked by the ocean and a third is overlooked by the magnificent old Dutch fort where the pauper and the miser can share an excellent view of the cricket. On Saturday the skeletons of the awnings to be fixed over the stands were being erected to prevent English spectators from being frazzled or drenched come Tuesday for the first Test against Sri Lanka – hopefully the former is the greater peril but there are no guarantees at this time of the year.There was also some activity out in...
Bowler took advantage of classic Leeds conditions with three Pakistan wickets in a display that defied talk of Test omissionAs a wily old pro Stuart Broad has long since learned to deal with the ups and downs that come with being a subject of critique. But after the captain who handed him his Test cap 10 years ago called for him during the week to be dropped he was not going to let it lie. Related: Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson put England on top against Pakistan Related: England v Pakistan: second Test, day one – live! Continue reading...