Petulant, yes, but Jimmy is just human
James Anderson is likely to hand over part of his match fee to the International Cricket Council after a brusque exchange with umpire Joel Wilson on the second day of the third Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston.
It is almost a given that fast bowlers are grumpy, especially when wickets are not forthcoming, as they weren’t for much of yesterday in the third Test when Pakistan reached tea on 154-1. But Anderson reacted angrily to an anodyne umpiring decision by Wilson, and for that he is likely to have to part with some of his hard-earned cash for the impertinence.
The incident, which occurred in the pre-lunch session, was fairly banal. Anderson had been bowling from the Pavilion End, without much ado, when umpire Wilson suggested that he might care to run off the pitch more quickly with his follow-through, or pick up a warning for illicit footwork.
As readers will know, pick up three warnings in an innings for running on the pitch and you are barred from bowling, something that befell Anderson in Johannesburg during the winter. On that occasion Aleem Dar was the umpire and Anderson let him know his robust thoughts on the matter.Yesterday, there was more petulance involved, with Anderson snatching his cap off Wilson before voicing his disagreement.
Usually, bowlers get angry to gee themselves up, but frustrations can become a running sore especially when things aren’t going your way, as they weren’t when Pakistan’s partnership for the second wicket passed 100.
It was during that passage of play that Anderson, now bowling from the City End, showed further displeasure, this time at umpire Bruce Oxenford’s decision to turn down an lbw appeal against Azhar Ali. It was the correct decision as the ball struck Azhar too high on the pad to be out, but that did not stop Anderson showing his displeasure by snatching his cap and jumper off Oxenford at the end of the over.
The catch dropped by Joe Root off his bowling straight after lunch, when Azhar’s edge split the gap between first and second slip, would not have put him in a good mood.With that wasted chance already niggling him, further annoyances were always going to provoke a reaction beyond their worth.
Anderson is England’s attack leader and he is used to posing a clear and present danger with ball in hand.Yet he and the rest of England’s attack all looked a little under par against the watchful occupation of Azhar and Sami Aslam, who added 181 before the latter was run-out.Worse, there seemed to be a paucity of ideas about how wickets might be taken with Anderson’s anger filling in for the lack of inspiration.
Not that he didn’t predict that he might be feistier than usual during this Test. In a Press conference two days before the match, he admitted that he’d been experiencing some technical difficulties rekindling his out-swinger after bowling to so many left-handers in the past 12 months. But, to prevent the technical details of that distracting him while on the field, he was going to get stuck into the batsmen instead. It’s just that the umpires, with what most bowlers would consider irrelevant concerns, got caught in his cross wires as well.
At least though, when Oxenford gave Anderson a second warning for straying onto the pitch later in the day, the bowler reacted more mutely.
While some will tut-tut Anderson’s
While some will tut-tut at Anderson’s petulance, he is an angel compared to bowlers like Glenn McGrath. A quiet, country boy from Narromine in New South Wales, McGrath became a beast with a cricket ball in hand
petulance, he is an angel compared to some bowlers like Glenn McGrath. A quiet, country boy from Narromine in New South Wales, McGrath became a beast whenever he had a cricket ball in hand. Not that he was untypical, at least in Australia, where some club teams occasionally picked players because of their sledging ability.
Accurate and unyielding with his bowling, McGrath also served up an endless stream of invective, especially against batsmen who would hang around. Often it was play acting, but occasionally it would get nasty, as with some of his exchanges with Brian Lara and the West Indies batsmen, which ended up being vicious.
At least he never kicked a batsman, something Dennis Lillee once did to Javed Miandad during a Test at the WACA. Javed was a consummate wind-up merchant who baited bowlers on and off the field, as when Ian Botham had to be held back from planting one on him in the ‘dry’ bar of a Sharjah hotel.
Many consider Lillee to be the first bowler to use anger, aggression and sledging to disturb a batsman’s concentration. There were probably others before him (he’d have learnt it from someone in Perth Grade cricket), but he was the first to use it systematically.
Not all bowlers find the emotion anger helpful. Indeed, some consider it wasteful. Far better, in their books, to put every last bit of energy into dismissing batsmen. The West Indies quick bowlers were like that though, famously, even they had their breaking points, as when biased umpiring interfered with their view of natural justice.
Who can forget that superb photo of Michael Holding against New Zealand in 1980, his right leg extended high above his shoulder after he’d sent a stump cartwheeling following another not out decision from umpire John Hastie, one of many the West Indies felt had gone against them during the Test.
More often the West Indies pacemen would caress you with an enigmatic smile before thudding a short ball into your rib cage at 90mph, an experience not unlike being shot by a rubber bullet.
Anderson doesn’t have that firepower at his disposal and on a day when there was precious little swing, seam or cut to help him, he allowed his frustrations to get the better of him. That is an England cricketer showing he is human, and for that the ICC will probably fine him.