Jimmy: I want to win back urn
JIMMY Anderson has vowed to everything he can to make sure he is still in the England side to win back the Ashes in 2019.
Australia completed an emphatic 4-0 series thumping with victory in the final Test in Sydney yesterday.
It brought to an end a dire trip for England, although Lancashire bowler Anderson was one of the plus points, with his performances taking him back to No.1 in the Test rankings.
He will be 37 in 2019, but England’s leading wicket-taker is desperate to be in the side bidding to win back the urn next year, especially with one of the games at his home ground Emirates Old Trafford.
“I’m going to do everything I can to be available,” said Anderson
“I don’t pick the team - I can’t say I’m definitely going to be there.
“I’m hungry to be there, still as hungry as ever.
“I’ve never really looked too far ahead, but I’d really like to be around in 2019.”
England were bowled out for 180 in their second innings in Sydney, losing by an innings and 123 runs.
But Anderson insists there is no need for a ‘big upheaval’ following the series defeat.
“It doesn’t feel like a completely disastrous series,” he said.
“(But) we’re hurting and we know we’ve got to improve.
“We’ve just not capitalised on the key moments.
“They’ve played the pressurised moments better than us, and when they’ve put the pressure on us we haven’t reacted very well.”
England’s problem has been sustaining peaks of performance something at which their hosts have been highly adept.
“Getting to 60 and 70 with the bat is not good enough,” said Anderson.
“You’ve got to get big hundreds, as they have done.
“It’s all very well bowling well 15-20 overs, but the 25-30 overs can be key overs for a bowler - the periods when you have to stay at your best - and we haven’t done that.”
The bottom line is that, on three of their last four Ashes tours, England failed to win a single Test.
Anderson, a veteran of all those campaigns as well as England’s glorious 2010/11 series victory, had to watch Australia celebrate again.
“We’ve known for a few weeks they’re going to lift the urn, but seeing them do it in person was tough to watch,” he said.
“There’s not a lot we can do about it; we’ve not played well enough, and they deserve to win it.”