England need a settled Anderson
James Anderson recently voiced his unhappiness over being rested for the tour of Bangladesh as well as not getting a game during England’s victorious ICC World T20 campaign
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
James Anderson recently voiced his unhappiness over being rested for the tour of Bangladesh as well as not getting a game during England’s victorious ICC World T20 campaign. On Yahoo Cricket, Graham Thorpe says England need a settled Anderson if they are to have any chance of retaining the Ashes.
The paceman said being excluded took the wind out of his sails and made him angry, but he cannot be too outspoken considering that England won both the Test series, then the tournament in the West Indies. It is only natural that a competitive sportsman will be unhappy at being left out of the side, and it is a positive sign that England have strength in depth at last.
However, Anderson has always been an unpredictable cricketer who has incredible good days and pretty atrocious bad ones: England need him to feel settled. There are some cricketers who respond well to competition, and Paul Collingwood is one of those; but the Lancastrian is a player who needs to be encouraged.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo