Anderson the unsung 'allrounder'
James Anderson's stubborn displays with the bat are not just helping England's cause but also helping him grow in confidence as a bowler, and it has also taken him one step beyond understanding a batter's mind, writes Duncan Fletcher in the
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
James Anderson's stubborn displays with the bat are not just helping England's cause but also helping him grow in confidence as a bowler, and it has also taken him one step beyond understanding a batter's mind, writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.
Now that he's learned how to hang around at the crease and even play a few shots, he's showing a greater awareness of how to out-think the batters when he has the ball in his hand. That process can take time but the signs are he's getting right. And the exciting thing is, he can get even better.
In the Times, Michael Atherton feels England will be loath to tinker and will play the same team, despite Andrew Flintoff's fitness worries.
If he is not fit, a suspect pitch would improve Trott’s chances, cloud cover would improve Sidebottom’s and neither of the above would represent Harmison’s best chance of one last crack at Australia before he, too, heads into the sunset.
Nasser Hussain believes Flintoff must be included for the fourth Test, as much for his presence and the effect he has on the crowd, particularly in the absence of England’s other box-office player in Kevin Pietersen, as his performances. In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain believes it is a difficult situation and one that will have to be handled with care by England.
So who is Jonathan Trott? For the uninitiated, Patrick Kidd has the lowdown on England's newest Ashes recruit. Read on in the Times.
Trott may be a South African by birth, but don't start calling him the new Kevin Pietersen, warns David Lloyd in the Independent.
For the fourth Test at Headingley, where the West Stand has a long-standing reputation for rowdiness, organisers are putting in place a range of measures to strike a happy medium between the two camps. Owen Gibson finds out more in the Guardian.
"Spotters" will be employed to roam the public bars, taking over-refreshed fans to one side and offering them a glass of water or something to eat. It will be quietly suggested that they leave the bar and come back later.
Is the Barmy Army an entertainment or a nuisance? More the latter, writes Dominic Lawson in the Independent. When they're in full lager-lubricated flow, it is impossible to pick up an edge to the wicketkeeper, and it is even difficult to hear the defining sound – between a thunk and a crack – of willow striking leather when the batsman drives the ball to the boundary.
The Barmy Army's mission statement – every organisation has one, it seems – is: "To make watching cricket more fun and more popular". What it seems not to understand is the "fun" in watching cricket, is ... watching cricket. For the great majority of real cricket-lovers, there is no fun in being within several counties of the Barmy Army and I know of a number of people who no longer attend Test matches because of their incessant din.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo