Criticism that declaring early cost England the first Ashes Test hasn’t shaken quick James Anderson’s faith that more Bazball is the way to even the series.
Debates over the wisdom of the much-trumpeted Bazball approach returned in earnest after England lost a tense series opener by two wickets at Edgbaston, having declared in the first innings on 8-393.
But Anderson, 40, said England and captain Ben Stokes will only look to push things in one direction when the series resumes at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“We’ll go more positive, more aggressive, more entertaining,” the paceman said.
“We want to try and make sure people go home happy, as they did each day at Edgbaston.
“Just because we’re 1-0 down I don’t think we’ll try anything different.
‘We can win the next four’
“We showed enough last week to show we can win the next four if we keep playing like that and iron a few things out. We’ll go exactly the same.”
Anderson was speaking as he swapped Bazball for baseball at the London Stadium on Saturday.
As the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals faced off in the first of two regular-season games at the city’s Olympic Park this weekend, Anderson threw the ceremonial first pitch alongside Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
Anderson’s daughter had spent their journey down from Manchester showing him videos of the 10 worst ceremonial pitches in history but he managed to get his over the plate.
The baseball gave Anderson and Lyon a bit of mental relief after the stresses of Edgbaston, where the game remained in the balance until the very end.
Lyon said throwing the pitch was the first time he had picked up a ball since leaving Birmingham as he tried to get away from what he called a “mental rollercoaster”.
‘Business as usual’
But with a 1-0 lead in the series, the Australians are understandably in buoyant mood.
“It was an absolutely incredible Test win and to be able to play a part in that was extremely special,” the 35-year-old spinner said.
“It is going to go down as one of the best Test matches I’ve played in.
“The mood has changed. There’s a lot of work we need to do. We feel like we can still get a lot better, and we need to get a lot better if we want to compete against England and the brand of cricket they’re playing.
“It’s business as usual for us. We can’t control what they’re doing.
“We’ll sit down as a team and identify areas where we can be better and where we believe we need to get better, so just focus on what we can do.”
ll
