Umpires need help to get it right says Anderson

Jan 21 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

JAMES ANDERSON is feeling fresh and he is looking on the bright side of his cricketing life.

True, the England fast bowler’s career has been pitted with frustrating losses of form and cruel injuries since he made his impressive international debut in 2003.

But he is happy with the way his game has gone over the past 12 months and he is enjoying working with new coach Peter Moores.

“It’s been a good change for the team,” he said. “A few fresh faces have brought a new look and some new ideas. It was maybe getting a little stale beforehand.”

Anderson is careful not to refer directly to former coach Duncan Fletcher but some might argue that he doesn’t really need to any more.

The Burnley-born seamer’s ability to swing the ball and to bowl virtually unplayable deliveries drew the praise of the touring Indians last summer and the fact that he only played one Test out of three on the Sri Lanka tour before Christmas doesn’t cloud his upbeat self-assessment.

On Saturday he and the rest of the England party fly out to New Zealand and Anderson is already anticipating the beneficial aspects of Geoff Miller’s decision to take on the new post of national selector.

“It’s going to benefit the team,” he said. “I’m a little surprised it wasn’t David Graveney but maybe it was time for some fresh faces. Geoff knows all the players and they know him so it’ll be a good appointment.”

In addition to having confidence in the men at the top of the England hierarchy Anderson also feels that his own skill level is at a more than acceptable level – “I’ve got the ball swinging again,” he declared happily – and he knows that the award of a central contract doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be prevented from playing for his county.

“It can be frustrating,” he admitted. “I remember I didn’t play too much the last time I had one. At the same time you have to trust the people at the ECB – the medical staff or whatever. It’s a question of finding the right balance. I can put my views across if I feel I need to play in a game and get some overs under my belt but it’s their decision.”

Playing as often as he can for Lancashire, it should perhaps be stressed, matters very much to Anderson. He was on a plane journey when his team-mates were trying to secure the championship at the Oval last September.

And he acknowledges that his own wait for the title has lasted only five years whereas some supporters have had to be patient throughout their long adult lives. This time round Anderson would like to be a member of a full-strength Old Trafford line-up in April.

“I’m hoping to start the season with Lancashire and hopefully Freddie (Flintoff) will be fit to start too and he can get us off to a flier,” he said. “He’s trying his socks off to get fit and that can only benefit him and Lancashire.

“It’s always been our main aim to win the Championship. We like to do as well as we can in the one-day trophies but the title is our main focus. You see our squad on paper and we should be beating anyone out there.”

Anderson recognises, however, that over the five months or so of the 2008 campaign, the leadership and trophy-winning experience of Stuart Law will also be crucial to his county’s success and he also accepts that Paul Horton has a vital summer in prospect.

“The second season is always the toughest,” he said, and his observation was born of hard-earned knowledge. “That’s when you get worked out a little bit so I’m sure Paul’s striving hard to improve. People knew I was going to swing it and so I had to add something else to my armoury. But he has a lot of people around him and Stuey will help him a hell of a lot. I know they work very closely together.”

But before Lancashire return to the Oval for their first four-day game of 2008 Anderson is hoping to add to his 62 Test wickets in New Zealand, a country he has never toured before. It would also be pleasant if the three-match series was free of the acrimony which has tainted the international game this winter and Anderson believes that technology should now be embraced by the game.

“The players want the right decisions to be made and that will happen if technology is used,” he said. “I’d like to say that we could trust the other team if a 50/50 catch has been claimed but I don’t think you can do that any more.”

It is perhaps the view of the hard-bitten professional sportsman James Anderson has become. But then again he is probably happy to get rid of the fresh-faced image which he had at the outset of his career. He is only 25 and feels that he has his best years ahead of him. Helped by Moores, Miller et al he might just be right.

Tickets are still available for England v New Zealand npower Test Match at Old Trafford, 23-27 May, and for the NatWest International Twenty20 game on June 13. Spectators considering attending either of these fixtures should ring Old Trafford’s 24-hour booking hotline or log on to www.lccc.uk.