Nobody can cope with England at their best, says veteran pacer James Anderson
The Hindu
England veteran pacer James Anderson said that Australia will not be able to cope with England at their very best when they play the prestigious Ashes series, starting from June 16
England veteran pacer James Anderson said that Australia will not be able to cope with England at their very best when they play the prestigious Ashes series, starting from June 16.
Anderson said that they might have to do something different with Australia, but the England team under the leadership of skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum has been able to cope with everything so far. "I am sure we will have to do something slightly differently against Australia because they might have different plays and whatever else. But we have coped with everything that's been thrown at us so far. It has been exciting," said Anderson as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"They are naturally extremely competitive, aggressive when they play. They will have discussed it and have their own plans and own ways of how they are going to cope with it. I just think if we do what we have been doing and play as well as we possibly can, I do not think anyone in the world can cope with it," added the bowler.
Going to play his 10th Ashes series, Test cricket's third-highest wicket-taker is confident that England can take the urn from Australia for the first time ever since 2015 with their domineering gameplay which has helped them win 10 out of their last 12 matches under Stokes-McCullum.
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"If you look at our team, if we play to the best of our ability with that mindset, I do not think anyone can cope with us. So yes, I think we can win. I feel like if we can keep the same mentality and the same sort of feeling in the dressing room we have had. It is fairly relaxed, we are trying to enjoy ourselves, we are trying to entertain people, take the positive option," said Anderson.
In many respects, Australia will be the litmus test for many of the values that England has adopted since the beginning of last summer. A drive to entertain, rather than judging performance purely on winning and losing.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.