They would not join us for a beer, says Jimmy
ENgLANd will carry on inviting the Australians into their dressing room for a beer and a chat after each Test of the Ashes even though Michael Clarke refused the offer to join them in Cardiff.
Alastair Cook attempted to pick up where England left off against New Zealand by extending the hand of friendship to the old enemy after their 169-run victory in the first Investec Test but Australia were resistant to the idea.
The Australians joined England after every Test for a drink during the 2005 Ashes but Ricky Ponting decided afterwards that the sides had been too friendly and reverted to socialising with the opposition only at the end of a series.
Clarke, as revealed in Sportsmail yesterday, was not prepared to go against what has become tradition and suspend hostilities temporarily with four Tests remaining.
That will not deter England, who have bought into the idea of playing the game in a better spirit after locking horns with Brendon McCullum and his pioneering New Zealanders earlier this season.
‘It was Cooky’s idea and he went and asked them after the game,’ said Jimmy Anderson as he reflected on England’s perfect start to the Ashes. ‘We were all happy to do it. I don’t know why they didn’t come in. Maybe they wanted to carry on doing things their way. You’ll have to ask them. It’s their prerogative.’
It was McCullum who took the initiative after New Zealand had been defeated in the first Test at Lord’s by leading his team into the England dressing room to congratulate them on their success.
‘We had a beer with the New Zealand team after both games and we found it an enjoyable thing to do after a hard Test,’ said Anderson. ‘It didn’t matter whether we won or lost, we did it and it’s something we want to carry on doing.’
It will clearly take Australia and gnarled veterans like Brad Haddin a bit longer to be persuaded by the new atmosphere and spirit in which much of world cricket is being played but it was noticeable there was no sledging at Cardiff.
The only hint of anything even vaguely against the spirit of the game came when david Warner and Nathan Lyon decided to prevent Ben Stokes indulging his superstition of sweeping the crease with his bat at the end of an over. But even that failed to provoke a flashpoint with England’s volatile all-rounder.
‘The spirit was different from our point of view because we weren’t fussed about trying to start any battles,’ said Anderson. ‘We were really focused on what we were going to do and when you rack up runs, generally the opposition are quiet, whoever you’re playing against.’
England’s leading wicket-taker has been their principal aggressor in the past and clashed with Clarke in Brisbane at the start of the last Ashes. But his confrontation with Ravindra Jadeja of India last year led to Anderson re-evaluating how he wants to go about his cricket and he is now happy to remain aggressive but keep quiet.
‘I really enjoyed the game in Cardiff and we had a lot of fun,’ he said. ‘It was a new-ball wicket in terms of getting nicks and after that we had to get funky with the field and we had a lot of enjoyment doing that.’
Anderson was speaking in Soho at the premiere of the film Warriors that follows the progress of a cricket team of Maasai warriors. He lent his support to the project and has been involved as executive producer.
‘The Maasai guys are trying to use cricket to change the way things are done because their elders have always done things a certain way,’ said Anderson. ‘They feel by coming over to England they can use cricket to promote change.
‘Cricket has been very kind to me in the 14 years I’ve been a professional and seeing these guys’ passion for the game is eye- opening. They have poor facilities and some travel four hours on a bike just to practise. It reminded me of why I started playing cricket. I really like the story and I’m sure some good will come from it.’
Now it is back to business today with the build-up to Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s.
‘We’ve got a real good feeling about the dressing room at the minute and we have to use the momentum that comes from that,’ said Anderson.
‘We know they will come back strongly and we have to be ready for what they throw at us. We do that by trying to repeat our performance from the first game and by taking the positive option.’