‘Windies desperate to beat us’
JAMES ANDERSON believes England have what it takes to stare down the West Indies and add to their solitary series win here in the last 50 years.
The veteran paceman says it is the Windies’ wildeyed desire to beat England that has seen them manage to maintain such a proud record despite their recent period in the doldrums. But with the tourists flying high in third place in the world following their 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka, and with the home team down in eighth in the rankings, Anderson is confident of pushing past West Indian passion and forcing a first series win since 2004. “When we’ve come here we’ve probably not performed consistently enough throughout the series,” said Anderson.
“We’ve won Test matches out here but it’s being able to maintain that throughout the series, and whenever we come here you get the feeling that the West Indies really want to beat England.
“It’s something that’s been ingrained in them, especially in the past when England have suffered heavy defeats.
“You can see it in the players’ eyes when you play against them and that means we’ve got to be on top form to be able to try to challenge them. But we can absolutely win this series. Man for man we’ve got to outplay them and what we showed in Sri Lanka was that we can adapt to any conditions.”
Anderson, 36, felt like a bit of a spare part in Sri Lanka, where the ball and the pitches offered him nothing, but back in the region where he broke Sir Ian Botham’s longstanding England Test wickettaking record and with a Dukes ball again in his hand, he is confident of having an impact on this series.
“The wickets in Sri Lanka were flat,” he said. “The wickets here could be flat but at least there’s a glimmer of hope for us seam bowlers.
“That encouragement makes you excited to bowl. There might be a little bit of swing through the air and that keeps you interested. It feels you can actually make an impact on the game.”
That will also be good news for Stuart Broad, who has remodelled his action and shortened his run-up in a bid to be even more effective this year, even if he loses out to Sam Curran on taking the new ball.
“I’ve not seen anyone work as hard as Broady has on their game,” said Anderson. “It’s a credit to him, he’s put so many hard yards in, not just on his run-up but on his action, trying to swing the ball away again.
“He still has the same snap at the crease, the same momentum going through the crease. He can definitely have the same oomph.”