“It was probably one of the most stressful periods that I’ve been through whilst I’ve been in the England team”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
England pace bowler James Anderson has admitted that his altercation with India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja during the recent five-Test series “went too far”.
Anderson noted that “common sense prevailed in the end” as he was found not guilty of all charges during an International Cricket Council (ICC) hearing, which took place after the third Test in Southampton.
“I felt it went too far – the whole process was too much,” Anderson told Sky Sports. “It could have been dealt with on the day, it could have been dealt with after the game but unfortunately it turned into a long, drawn out process but thankfully common sense prevailed in the end.
“It was probably one of the most stressful periods that I’ve been through whilst I’ve been in the England team. It was constantly there – whether it was talking to solicitors, whether it was ‘we’ve got meetings here’; whatever it was, it was a constant thing.
“I just wanted it to go away so I could concentrate on the cricket. But I thought that everyone dealt with it brilliantly. The ECB were great; they backed me all the way and I’m very grateful for that.
“I was just having a chat off the field. When we’e on the field and out in the middle, the umpires are there to oversee that – if they think we overstep the mark they step in and take over; if it’s serious enough they’ll report it to the match referee and it gets dealt with like that.
“It’s something I’ve always been aware of. I feel like I need to be aggressive on the field because I’m not a big presence on the field, like Chris Tremlett or Stuart Broad; being aggressive has helped me do my job for the team.
“But I’m very aware of the boundaries and of overstepping the mark – and if I’ve ever been close the umpires are straight on it; there are stump microphones there. I’m very aware of everything there and I don’t overstep the mark.”
While England ended up winning the Test series 3-1, their run of good form deserted them in the ODI series as they lost by the same margin.
Since England lost the ODI series 3-1, Anderson admitted that the national team have a lot of work to do prior to the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“I thought we were under-par [against India], putting it politely – but there’s definitely promise there,” he said. “We’ve got some amazingly talented guys in that team. I saw Ben Stokes go back to Durham and smack 164 in no time.
“The lucky thing for us is that we’ve got a concentrated period of time on one-day cricket where we can actually really focus on areas where we need to improve.
“From a bowling point of view – death-bowling and powerplays are huge parts that we know that we’ve got to improve if we are going to have any chance in the World Cup.
“But we’ve never had this period of time to concentrate on one-day cricket; it’s something new to us and something that we are relishing. We want to compete in the World Cup and get as far as we can.”