Jimmy wants kids to chirp up
JIMMY ANDERSON has urged England’s younger players to turn up the volume after he was appointed Test vice-captain for the upcoming two-match series in New Zealand.
Anderson was named skipper Joe Root’s deputy for the Ashes series in Australia and will stay in the role for the Test leg of this tour ahead of returning all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Stokes was Root’s initial No 2 when the Yorkshireman took over the captaincy from Alastair Cook last year but was suspended for the Ashes following the incident in Bristol last September that has left him facing a trial for affray in August, a charge he denies.
It means Anderson, England’s most senior player with 134 Test appearances to his name, will continue in the job for now. “I’m honoured Joe wants me to be vice-captain,” he said. “When you’ve got a group of senior players like we have, it’s down to all of us to help this team progress and lead from the front.
“But we need the younger guys to start chirping up a bit more and having some more input.
“That’s what we want to do as a team – get to a point where everyone has their say. It probably is one of the quieter England teams.
“The Ashes wouldn’t have helped in that respect because that is as pressurised an environment as you can get.
“Maybe the attention around this series is not going to be as big, but we’re still playing a team who are really settled at home and they have a really good bowling attack who know how to take 20 wickets on these pitches.”