JIMMY STILL THE KING
Ando inspired by Lewis
JAMES ANDERSON hit the big 3-0 as he continued to push the bar ever higher with the finest performance of his career in Sri Lanka.
And he revealed how the second greatest athlete in the world during the 1980s has helped him improve.
USA sprint king Carl Lewis was famously dubbed No.2 by British golden hero Daley Thompson – but he is inspiring Anderson to stay at No.1 with a ball in his hand.
His 6-40 in the second
Test in Galle was the 30th five wicket haul of his astonishing Test career in which he is still rewriting the record books at the age of 38.
And after becoming the oldest seam bowler to take a five-wicket haul on the subcontinent, the veteran revealed how much attention to detail and hunger for improvement it takes to continue excelling after so long at the top.
“It was rocket hot out there so to get the rewards certainly feels good,” said Anderson.
“And I don’t think I’m surprising myself. I don’t see why I can’t keep improving just because I’m getting older. “The more work you do, the more effort you put in, the more rewards you get generally.
“I’ve worked really hard on my fitness in the last 12 months, lockdowns have actually helped that quite a bit. I’m working on stuff like r u n - ning technique to make me quicker.
“I have sort of got obsessed with watching sprinters as well.
“I am obsessed with Carl Lewis at the minute, watching him run. “I don’t know if you can see a comparison with me chasing the ball to the boundary!
“It’s about trying to take pressure off my body.
“If I have got good technique doing stuff then hopefully muscle injuries don’t come around as much
BAT MAN & ROCKIN: Joe Root on his way to 67 not out as they can do as you get older.” But it is not just about health and fitness with Anderson.
The skills he continues to develop are second to none, such as the offcutter he produced to deny Niroshan Dickwella a maiden Test ton when he had him caught in the covers for 92.
Sri Lanka were able to reach 381 before Sam Curran wrapped up the innings with Dilruwan Perera the last man out for 67.
It meant all 10 wickets were taken by seamers with Mark Wood’s 3-84 a triumph of gut-busting effort.
Not since England bowled out Bangladesh in 2003 have all 10 wickets fallen to seam bowlers in Asia.
And this was the first time ever it had been done in Sri Lanka.
England, though, surely cannot rely on their pacemen to produce this kind of display across the next four matches in India where the pitches are likely to be just as flat if not flatter.
They will need more support from the spin department in providing pressure and control if they are not a big wicket-taking threat.
Neither Dom Bess nor Jack Leach were able to provide much of either in the first innings, going for a combined 195 runs from 64 overs.