The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Anderson: we can still improve
JA MES A NDERSON has an ominous warning for A ustralia, on his home patch at Old Trafford next week.
A s England seek a fifth consecutive A shes Test cricket victory, dating back to Melbourne 2010, and A ustralia try to somehow buck that trend before the urn is gone again, A nderson yesterday spelled out that the hosts are still anticipating further improvement on their most recent 347-run success, at Lord’s.
That mammoth margin in the second Investec Test means England will arrive in Manchester needing one more win to make it 3-0 and therefore have the A shes in safe keeping for a third successive time.
A nderson has been to the fore, with 13 wickets so far this summer, including 10 in the thrilling victory at Trent Bridge.
A fter England had gone 1-0 up, captain A lastair Cook insisted they were capable of much better — a point they proved at Lord’s.
A nderson is convinced they have even more in the locker as they head back north.
“It’s been a great start ... and I think we can take a lot of confidence from it, going into the next few games,” he said.
“It was quite twitchy atTrent Bridge — a very close game, but we were delighted to come through it.”
There were only 14 runs between the teams there, before England turned the screw at HQ.
“We kicked on at Lord’s, and put in a much better performance.
“We made a few mistakes at Trent Bridge, and knew we could play a lot better than we did. We still know we can play a lot better than we did at Lord’s as well.”
England had to recover from 28 for three, after winning an important toss last week, and then found themselves in a similar position in their second innings.
But Ian Bell and man-of-the-match Joe Root came to the rescue with a century each time, and off-spinner Graeme Swann outbowled his opposite numbers to take nine wickets in the match.
“Even though the win was a lot more convincing, we found ourselves in trouble quite a lot, then managed to dig our way out of a couple of holes,” said A nderson.
“We can still improve, and will be looking to do that at Old Trafford next week.”
The Lancastrian fast bowler has a rare chance to play Test cricket in front of his own crowd.
“I’m delighted I’m going to get a chance to play at my home ground,” he added.
“I think it’s going to be an amazing atmosphere — it always is there.”