Amid calls for his axing from the England team, James Anderson has accepted “going through a lean patch” but denied he has been “bowling particularly badly”.
“I will be honest. You want to contribute in the big series and I cannot remember having two such quiet games in a row for at least the past 10 years... But I do not think I am bowling particularly badly; I am just going through a lean patch, which you do not want to happen in an Ashes,” Anderson, who will turn 41 on July 30, wrote in his column for London’s The Daily Telegraph.
England must win the third Test, starting at Leeds on Thursday, if they wish to have any chance of reclaiming the Ashes. There have been calls for Anderson’s omission, most notably from former captain Michael Vaughan.
Anderson, who has 688 wickets from 181 Tests, has had a poor series by his own high standards. In the two Tests, he has bagged only three wickets at 75.33 in 77 overs.
Anderson said the lean patch is “not because” of his age. “It is a high-profile series and you get put under the spotlight a bit more and the easy target is to say he is getting on a bit. But the reason I have not taken wickets is not because of my age,” he wrote.
Pope ruled out
England batsman and vice-captain Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes series after dislocating his right shoulder during the second Test at Lord’s.
He will undergo surgery. The 25-year-old had dislocated his left shoulder in 2019 and again in 2020.
England will not call up a replacement.
