Anderson is being missed
England's bowlers have struggled for rhythm at Lord's and David Lloyd believes that there is no doubt that they are missing James Anderson's expertise as a swing and seam bowler
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
England's bowlers have struggled for rhythm at Lord's and David Lloyd believes that there is no doubt that they are missing James Anderson's expertise as a swing and seam bowler. After all, as Lloyd writes in the Independent Anderson is head and shoulders above Broad, Tremlett and Finn in terms of wickets in the bank, if not in inches on the tape measure.
But, almost as important, they also missed the wise words which he would have passed on to his less experienced colleagues from mid-off. There were times yesterday when all of the bowlers, but especially Finn, looked lonely out there. The Middlesex youngster just could not stop himself from drifting onto leg stump during one spell – and there were a lot of hands on hips in the slip cordon when what Finn really needed was an arm around his shoulder and a bit of advice from someone who knows what it is like to be a bowler struggling for rhythm.
England don't have a balanced attack, writes Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail, but that doesn't mean we should fall into the trap of saying England chose the wrong side.
You could see by the way even Tillekeratne Dilshan was jumping around at times that they were not entirely comfortable with the bounce England's giant quicks were getting.They didn't get enough balls in the right place, but that doesn't mean the principle behind the selection was skewed.
A year ago no one was talking about Jade Dernbach, but suddenly people are saying England need a pitch-it-up swing bowler to dismiss the Sri Lankans. It's a reminder of the old cliche: you become a better player when you're not actually in the side.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo