then.
Amazingly a bit of talk about dropping some of the England players and all of a sudden they put in a performance in beating Pakistan at Headingley.
The England players that performed so dreadfully in the opening test match of the season didn’t like the criticism that came their way after that debacle, it’s funny how it seemed to give them the kick up the arse required to turn things about a few days later.
The way they complained about it you’d think this poor performance at Lord’s was a one off and not the standard we’ve seen for the last few series. Broad and the Burnley Bumpkin – Anderson – took exception to being called out and the mention of being dropped.
I’m not saying it worked in all cases.
Anderson told everyone he knew what length he should bowl. He showed this at Leeds by bowling short and being crap again, while Broad and others were pitching it up and getting wickets the Brains of Burnley knew what he should do. Five down before he picked up his first. It comes to something when a commentator says Anderson has bowled badly, they pussyfoot around the tart so much it really means he’s been awful and I heard it a few times over both innings.
There was a some good deliveries, you know the one that sent the stump flying, pitched up perfectly. But even doing that and seeing the others do it, he knew the length to bowl. It’s the length for his economy rate, didn’t quite work in the second innings as he had the worst of the lot.
And that’s what’s going on here. If they can only pull their finger how when their place in the side is questioned then they’re only playing for themselves not for the team. How many times have either Broad or Anderson performed over the last couple of years and how many times has that performance come after they’ve been questioned or criticised?
Why do they need that kick up the arse? Well, it’s because they’re lazy and cruising through on the fact that they know the selectors probably won’t drop ’em because of the number of wickets accrued over the years.
A bit of pressure, something to fight back against and well, a victory at last, with all aspects of the game – bowling, batting and fielding – which were all criticised, so much better than at Lord’s.
But of course the media have let up now, so chances are it’ll be back to the usual lazy rubbish of before, well Anderson isn’t going to alter his length for anyone, no matter how many wickets it could bring.