ANDERSON PLEA FOR ‘COMMON SENSE TO PREVAIL’
JIMMY ANDERSON called for ‘common sense to prevail’ and Stuart Broad spoke of his ‘frustration’ after the umpires took the players off for bad light with England just 33 runs short of clinching a Test series win against South Africa at the Oval. Sky cameras showed skipper Ben Stokes looking stunned in the dressing room after the decision was made, with Zak Crawley and Alex Lees cruising to the victory target of 130. Broad said: ‘We’re naturally disappointed and frustrated, particularly as the guys were going well. Leesy hit the last ball of the day through the covers for four and was obviously seeing it fine.’ The pace quartet of Broad, Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Stokes bowled superbly as South Africa collapsed after lunch from 83 for one to 169 all-out to set up an England victory charge. ‘It’s frustrating from our point of view because of the rate we were scoring, but it’s the rules,’ said Anderson. ‘Sometimes you think common sense would prevail.’ Broad added: ‘I do understand the other side of it, that it would be unfair on South Africa if it rained all day tomorrow and we’d carried on just to finish the game tonight. But we’re frustrated we didn’t get to finish it in front of the crowd that have been with us all day.’
It was a memorable day for Broad as he picked up his 564th, 565th and 566th Test wickets to go past his idol, Glenn McGrath, in the all-time wicket taking list. ‘It’s really special,’ he said. ‘I saw Jimmy get his 564th on September 11th here four years ago so that was quite funny. Glenn McGrath’s a hero of mine and the reason I wanted to become a bowler, I used to imitate him in the garden. ‘Obviously he’s a much finer bowler than I’ve ever been but it’s incredible to be up there in that sort of company and really special to have joined Jimmy as a onetwo, with him being a great mate and someone that I have shared a fantastic partnership with for a long time.’