James Anderson has admitted he is desperate to open his account in Pakistan after being given a new lease of life by 'McStokes'.
The 40-year-old fast bowler has taken Test wickets in every country he has played thus far, but although he was part of the tour party, he missed out on making the Test team on the 2005 tour and is yet to celebrate that wicket-taking feeling out here. That will almost certainly change from Thursday onwards when he leads the attack in Rawalpindi, and goes on the hunt for wickets and nothing else.
The demands of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes is for Anderson to focus solely on adding to his tally of 667 scalps, and at this stage of his career that has been the perfect approach for a man with his skills: “With the ball we’re trying to take wickets,” said Anderson.
“They have made that quite clear – every time you run in to bowl it’s about taking wickets. It’s not about controlling the run-rate, it’s about how we’re going to get 20 wickets. At 40 years old I prefer it this way. Bowling 30 or 35 overs, keeping it dry and picking up the odd wicket here and there is quite tough.
"It’s quite a fresh way of thinking for me. That might sound strange, because I have got a lot of wickets in Test cricket, but sometimes my mindset has been to try to bore them out, to make them make a mistake. Now every time I run in to bowl I think about taking wickets, which is exciting."
Anderson however, existed team success came before personal milestones: “I’ve not played a Test match here before so I’m delighted to have the chance to be able to play here. And I don’t care who it is as long as I get a wicket and try to help the team towards a win. That’s what we’ve come here for - we want to win the series, so that’s our main focus.”
If England are to be successful it will almost certainly require Anderson to play his part with the ball as he has done for so long over the course of his 20-year international career. Pakistan’s 19-year-old fast bowler Naseem Shah was full of admiration for the England man, describing Anderson as a ‘legend’ of the game.
The day after Naseem was born Anderson was busy taking 4-25 against the Netherlands in the 2003 World Cup, so he is definitely respecting his elders: “It is a very big achievement by Anderson to still be playing,” said Naseem. “I am a fast bowler so I know how hard fast bowling is.
“He is a legend and he has put in a lot of hard work over the years. He might be 40, but he is still playing, he is still taking wickets, he is still fit and he knows everything about bowling.”
England have been tapping into that bank of knowledge and experience for many years, but without a fast bowling coach on the tour, Anderson has been on hand to help. He is a far more skilful bowler than he was when he toured in 2005, but he still has to prove he can cut it when the ball is in his hands.
“I can just about remember that tour last time so I'm trying to rack my brains for how those wickets played,” he added. “But I think we've got to have a fairly fresh open mind on Thursday and just adapt well to the conditions. I've had to work hard to develop as a bowler and I feel like I've got skills that can help me anywhere in the world so hopefully I can show that in the next few weeks.
“But just because I've got the skills doesn't necessarily mean I'll be fine, I'll take wickets. I've still got to bowl well, I've still got to execute when it matters out on the field so that's what I'll be focusing on in the next few days.”
