Ashes 2017: James Anderson says Australia have problems with the depth of their pace attack

[MenInG]

ames Anderson says Australia have problems with their battery of quicks - if you look beyond the trio who have taken the Ashes back from his side.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have taken 45 wickets between them already to help the Baggy Green regain the urn with two Tests to spare.

The three men have regularly topped 90mph with their deliveries - something England's attack has not.

That has led to an inquest about the state of English bowling and a lack of raw pace. Anderson is England's leading wicket-taker with 12 - more than Cummins - but six of them came in his preferred swinging conditions in Adelaide where a lack of pace mattered little.

Even so, support from elsewhere has been lacking - Stuart Broad has five, Chris Woakes seven and plucky debutant Craig Overton six - but it is England's inability to hunt in a pack, and quickly, which has hurt them the most.

But Anderson says the hosts would have problems if their leading trio were missing.

"They've had three bowlers who all can bowl 90mph," he told the BBC's Tailenders podcast. "They've stayed fit for all three games. But you look beyond that, they've got problems.

"There's (James) Pattinson injured, (Nathan) Coulter-Nile injured - they've all been injured for a while. They've not got much other than these three that are bowling at the minute.

"I think we've got to be careful. Obviously we want to produce guys who can bowl 90mph but I don't think we should take away from what we've got. We've got some very skillful bowlers, we've just come up against a team that are better than us this series."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...alia-james-anderson-bbc-podcast-a8124836.html

 

[cricketjoshila]

Really now.English players and ex players are no embarassing themselves.

 

[Zeshan547]

Man this is not even funny anymore, cringe worthy

 

[Gilly]

Unlike England who plenty of depth, take out Stokes and they can still deliver a 0-5 thrashing.

 

[wrongun]

Australia have problems if we lose some of our best bowlers- sure I agree this is a true statement.

England have problems with their "best" bowlers being pie checkers (an opening bowler without a 5fer in 2 years is minnow level stuff)- also a true statement.

 

[Hasan123]

These statements are getting embarrassing . England's pace attack isn't good enough in these conditions and here you have Anderson questioning one of the best attacks in the world.

Hope Australia smash these Poms 5-0.

 

[bujhee kom]

England are serious HTBs.

 

[Savage]

England are serious HTBs.

England have lost 9 test matches since May 2014 at HOME.IMO,Their home performance is far more disappointing than Their away performance.

 

[HuzaifaE]

Jimmy, your depth is Jake Ball, I mean like...

People keep defending these statements like "oh what else should they say?", but is it really that hard to say "Australia have done well, fair play, we need to keep our heads down and focus on our own game and we are confident we'll be able to bounce back if we play to our ability."?

These mind games look nice when it's close, but when it's 3-0, it just looks foolish.

If you're going to get hammered into the floor, at least don't further the embarrassment with such remarks.

 

[James]

He’s probably right, but it is an irrelevant point to make when they’re all fit and bowling at a high level!!

Difficult to choose from them in terms of who the best one is - I know that Starc and Hazelwood have the best stats in the series, and Hazelwood in particular is a fantastic Test bowler who does not miss a trick.

However I rate Cummins the highest - his raw, tearaway style is beautiful to watch, and when it really matters he seems to take some of the bigger wickets - like when he ripped out Malan at Adelaide just before close of play - in the end this is the moment that swung the match decisively in Australia’s favour, as England had been doing very well in the run chase.

Whomever your personal preference leans towards, indisputably a sterling trio who perfectly complement one another. This may be one of the few series where they all play together for an extended period, so as a cricket fan this is something to absolutely appreciate.

 

[Convict]

I agree with Anderson. If all of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins (and Pattinson) were injured at the same time our pace attack would be much weaker.

 

[giri26]

I think Australia have enough depth in their domestic cricket in terms of pace bowling. They might not be experienced but they are good young bowlers. England on the other hand have been struggling to find an attack with will replace their veterans.

Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Justcrazy]

Most teams will be in trouble if you remove two , three of there best bowlers, its not unique for Aussies only.

 

[Robert]

Jimmy should say less.

 

[CricFan2012]

English cricketers are the most hypocritical bunch aren't they? Moan about bouncers and bullying when they do the same, I think I'll be supporting the Aussies now for the rest of the series. Spineless bowling and batting too.