Anderson laments poor bowling partnerships

Anderson laments poor bowling partnerships

Fast bowler James Anderson thinks England need to improve if they are to win the Ashes this winter. His comments came after Windies had racked up 329 for 5 on the second day of the second Test a Headingley, giving them a 71-run lead over England and putting the visitors firmly in charge of the Test match.

The bedrock of the Windies innings was a 246-run partnership between Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope. It came after the tourists had been reduced to 35 for 3 and in danger of repeating their poor performance in the previous match at Edgbaston. There, they had lost 19 wickets on the third day to surrender the match by an innings and 209 runs. It was a capitulation which had prompted much criticism.

During the first session on Saturday (August 26), England had bowled well but thereafter, they let the men from the Caribbean off with a raft of loose deliveries. "We didn't bowl very well. Even on pitch with life in it you have to put the ball in right area," said Anderson. "We talk about bowling in partnerships but we did not do that much today. There was always a release at the other end. We bowled a lot of bad balls."

Before this match, England had won three consecutive Tests for the first time since the summer of 2014 when they beat India 3-1. It had eased fears about the inconsistency of the home side's play which had been evident throughout the past three years and which had dogged them earlier in the summer. In the first Test against South Africa at Lord's, England won by 211 runs but then lost the next match at Trent Bridge by 340 runs.

"I thought we had got on the right side of being consistent with two wins against South Africa and at Edgbaston," said Anderson. "We are still evolving as a side and ironing out those inconsistencies are big thing for this team going forward. We have a big tour of Australia coming up and we can't go there and win the series if we are inconsistent."

Anderson took the first three Windies wickets to fall. It leaves him on 495 Test victims and in sight of the magical 500 mark but he was full of praise for Hope and Brathwaite. "They batted brilliantly," Anderson said. "They played the conditions very well, going through the tough periods and as day went on they cashed in. I think our batsmen could have learned from way they applied themselves. We have just got to look at ourselves. Did we create enough pressure? Did we put enough balls in the right areas."

As Anderson intimated, England's top five, who will likely be faced by a hefty deficit, have much to do in the second innings after their poor performance in the first. Not only do they have to try and rescue this match for their side, Mark Stoneman, Tom Westley and Dawid Malan also have to try and cement their spots on the Ashes tour of Australia. If they can't, England's selectors will find themselves in quite a conundrum.