NEED AN ’AND?
I’ve still got it, says Jimmy as Test bowlers toil without him
JIMMY ANDERSON has doubled down on his determination to break back into the England Test side while his team-mates were brought to their knees in Barbados.
Another day of hard graft in the field for England’s bowlers came courtesy of the continued cussedness of West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, who batted for more than 11-and-a-half hours for his 160.
Only Brian Lara has batted longer in a Test innings for the Windies, twice against England in Antigua, while his 489 balls sits seventh in the list.
He was eventually prized out by Jack Leach’s left-arm spin, but not before he had reduced the deficit to 122 and significantly reduced his team’s chances of losing this match.
Until that point England’s attack had been feeding off scraps. Full of endeavour but lacking in cutting-edge quality. As a result, thoughts inevitably turned to the proven wicket-takers left at home – Anderson (above) and Stuart Broad. The former has made it clear he intends to show why he should be back in the summer.
“As long as I feel I can compete at the top level, then I want to do that,” he told Eddie Hearn’s ‘No Passion, No Point’ podcast. “I’ve got hunger and passion to play for Lancashire and hopefully that will take me on to England later in the summer.”
He may yet get the chance to join forces at international level with his county colleague Saqib Mahmood, who was finally rewarded with his first Test scalp when Jason Holder inexplicably swished across the line at his second ball after lunch and was caught for 12. It was a swirling catch, very well held by Matthew Fisher.
Both men have toiled manfully on this batting-friendly surface, repeatedly charging in with the youth and vitality you would expect from two bowlers with an England Test shirt on for the first time. But despite all their hard work and effort, the West Indies captain was prepared to work just as hard to deny them the fairy-tale bucket of wickets first time around.
Brathwaite’s defiance was a monumental example of concentration and technique, with Holder’s moment of carelessness showing what can happen the moment you let it slip. Ben
Stokes had struck in the morning session to remove nightwatchman Alzarri Joseph for 19 thanks to a loose cut straight into the hands of Dan Lawrence at gully, but the muted celebration acknowledged that more hard graft lay ahead.
None more so than for Leach who had sent down 63 overs by the time the third new ball arrived at 162 overs.
His contest with Brathwaite read, 214 balls delivered, 186 of them dots, and four boundaries taken and then finally, the wicket.
With a harder ball, he managed to get it to grip and turn past the outside edge and clip the off stump. It was a beauty.