James Anderson: “It escalated quite quickly, didn’t it? Ridiculous but what we’ve come to expect”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England pace bowler James Anderson has rubbished claims that he tampered with the ball and branded all the speculation as “ridiculous”.

Anderson was accused to altering the condition of the ball during the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne when television images showed that he used his thumb to clear dirt away from the seam.

Even head coach Trevor Bayliss played down all the rumours that Anderson had tampered with the ball.

“It escalated quite quickly, didn’t it? Ridiculous but what we’ve come to expect, crazy really,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, with England 3-0 down going into the final Ashes Test in Sydney on January 4, Anderson is hoping to lead his side to victory and ensure they end their disappointing campaign on a high.

“It’s a horrible situation, because we thought we had a good chance of winning this series,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not turned out that way but we’ll just keep working hard and try to have one last push [and] get a result in Sydney.

“We’ve got a really strong group, a strong core of players, good management as well but it’s just not worked. I’d feel disappointed for this group if we didn’t get a win on this trip, because we’ve worked so hard.”