Swann expects more trial by swing

Graeme Swann is a cricketer who likes to be at the centre of the action, but even he had to settle for a place on the periphery last week, as James Anderson and his fellow seamers routed Pakistan in the first Test at Trent Bridge. But despite bowling just two overs in the entire game, Swann admitted he'd be happy for a repeat scenario at Edgbaston this week, as England attempt to take a 2-0 lead in the series with two Tests still to come.

"It was kind of novel, but kind of nice," Swann told reporters at Trent Bridge. "Whenever I go into a game, you always expect the worst. When I say the worst, I mean I expect to bowl 30 overs in an innings - and really feel it afterwards. But I said to Straussy on the last morning: 'In an ideal world, I won't even have to get warmed up today - because that means we are taking wickets'. And so it was. But it's not that strange for me to stand at Trent Bridge and not do much bowling - because I do that for Notts a lot of the time."

Despite being surplus to requirements, Swann didn't have time to be at a loose end while England were in the field, because he was far too busy claiming four catches to cement his position at second slip. England's close catching was exceptional in the first Test, with every single catch going to hand, and only Strauss having a moment of alarm when he fumbled Shoaib Malik in the first innings only to cling onto the rebound.

""It was the worst possible start we could have done because now everyone thinks were are going to catch everything!" Swann joked. "But Colly [Paul Collingwood] was outstanding, he took two catches that would have hit me flush on the forehead. If we're taking the catches and backing up the bowlers, it's good for the team. The trick is to to make sure our standards stay this high."

England's bowlers certainly fed off the confidence being exuded from the cordon, with Anderson excelling with career-best figures of 11 for 71. Pakistan's batting came in for understandable criticism after collapsing to 80 all out on the fourth morning, but Swann believed that any team in the world would have struggled to cope with a bowler at his absolute best.

"Whoever we played, they'd have had to play very well to counteract the swing bowling of James Anderson, he was exceptional," said Swann. "They were quite unlucky to find us in good form with the ball. It's what we hoped to do but you don't always hit your straps like Jimmy did. We're delighted but we need to make sure here at Edgbaston we're equally on fire. We're very effective in our home conditions and we aim to carry that on for the next three games."

Swann was at Edgbaston recently with Nottinghamshire, when he witnessed Stuart Broad claim his own career-best figures of 8 for 52 in Warwickshire's second innings, and he fully expects more swinging conditions for England's quick men to exploit. "I am inherently lazy, so I would hope for a repeat of what happened at Trent Bridge," he said. "I am happy to stand at second slip and watch those guys bowl like that again.

"If the conditions suit, in England we are a very good bowling attack," he added. "The seam was standing up for all three of them, so if the rain and clouds stay around for five days I can't see why we won't be equally hard to bat against. Two weeks ago [here] was the most I've seen Broady swing it, he cut back on his pace slightly and bowled superbly here for Notts."

Edgbaston is currently undergoing extensive rebuilding, with a large gap in the stands where the old pavilion once stood, but Swann scoffed at the notion that the change in environment had affected the extent to which the ball swings.

"There are more breeze-blocks here than when I was here two weeks ago ... that might have affected the airflow," he said. "I think that's a bit of an urban myth. People always said about the micro-climate at Trent Bridge because the new stand had gone up - but that is absolute 'horse'."