Image courtesy of: The Guardian
Anderson took two five-wicket hauls during the first Ashes Test
Fresh off a win at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, England captain Alastair Cook has insisted that his side do not depend on pace spearhead James Anderson to take all the wickets.
Anderson registered two five-wicket hauls in the first Ashes Test, finishing up with 10 wickets, which earned him the coveted Man of the Match award.
However, Cook admitted that he was slightly concerned about the number of overs Anderson had bowled, especially with four more Tests remaining and another five coming up later in the year.
“Jimmy was outstanding,” Cook said. “He always wants one more over, though 13 was probably quite a lot in that first hour.
“But no, I don’t think we’re over-reliant on him at all. He’s a world-class bowler and you sometimes use him in these situations when you know there’s a time-frame. He had an amazing rhythm in this game.
“Stuart Broad and Steven Finn have done outstandingly well for us over a huge amount of time, but it just happened to be Jimmy’s day and Jimmy’s game. Sometimes it happens like that.
“When a bowler hits a rhythm you just keep asking him if he’s feeling alright. That’s why you do the training in the gym: when your captain needs you to do it you are physically fit to do it. We know his skill but his heart to keep running in on a hot day on a flat wicket was outstanding.
“No, there’s no bowler in the world I’d rather have. Not in any conditions. These were very subcontinent conditions and he was outstanding. He swings it both ways on an immaculate length and makes it very hard to score.
“You do worry about his workload in one sense but, when you’re out in the middle, that is kind of irrelevant. You have to think about what is best for the team at that precise time. You can’t be thinking about what will happen in two months time.
“It’s the job for our backroom staff and us as a team to make sure we recover well because back-to-back Test matches are hard physically.”
When asked by Sky Sports if this Test match had been his best performance to date, Cook said: “Yeah I’d say so. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy at the start of the day, but I thought the lads stuck to it and stayed calm when it was getting tough.
“I’m just delighted to get the win. I had the nerves going a little bit but I love bowling here, it’s been good to me over the years and I’m happy that I could pick up some more wickets.”
However, Cook also conceded that Anderson would find if “difficult” to continue bowling 13-over spells in the four remaining Tests.
“If I’m bowling 13-over spells it’s going to be difficult,” he said. “But it’s Ashes cricket. I love playing Test match cricket and the Ashes is right up there, and that’s why we do the hard work in the gym – to get out there and bowl long spells.”