London 12 September : Former England captain Nasser Hussain is urging the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to keep James Anderson in their scheme of things as the team goes to Pakistan for three-Test matches in December.Anderson is the fastest pace bowler in the world with 667 wickets and has played a major part in England’s series win against New Zealand, the rescheduled fifth Test against India and the three-Test series against South Africa, which the hosts are set to beat at The Oval on Monday.
Anderson 40 Anderson, 40, along with his pace comrade Stuart Broad, was dropped from England’s touring team in the West Indies earlier this year after a disappointing Ashes tour of Joe Root’s team.Anderson’s career was looking bleak, but after the change of direction in the ECB and with new coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes at the helm the former pace-bowling star is back in the team and performing great things.
Hussain is hoping for Anderson to lead England’s pace offense in the subcontinent.
“There is absolutely no reason to believe that the two (Anderson and Broad) should not continue without stopping.
I don’t believe Broad will be going to Pakistan for three tests this winter due to the fact of the birth of his first child.However, I would prefer Anderson,” opined Hussain in his column in the Daily Mail.
“The surfaces in the UAE can be rough, however Jimmy (Anderson) has performed exceptionally impressively in the past against Pakistan with similar pitches in the UAE taking 22 wickets in six Tests, at 20 each, and has abilities to perform in any weather.We must take pleasure in Broad and Anderson for as long as we can.I’ve always believed that we’re too eager to let go of our greatest cricketers, and they are our two best bowlers.Let’s keep these two and let the next take care of itself,” added Hussain.
The following day, Broad surpassed Australian great Glenn McGrath as the pacer with the second most wickets in Test cricket history.The 36-year-old Broad beat McGrath’s record of 563 wickets in the longest version of the game on Day Four of the third Test against South Africa, when he took out Proteas captain Dean Elgar, trapping him with a lbw of 36 in The Oval.
Broad took his 564th wicket in Test cricket, eclipsing McGrath in becoming the second highest wicket-taking pacers in Test cricket history.He is now second only to Anderson in the pacer’s wickets list with 666 wickets to his credit.
With the help of Broad (3/45) as well as Anderson’s 237 on Day 4 England are only 33 runs from securing the highly-contested three-Test series against South Africa when play resumes at The Oval later on Monday.
Hussain declared it great to observe the ECB abandoning its controversial policy of player rotation in the aftermath of an array of Test failures in 2021 and in the early part of this year.
This means that all the top England players are up to select at any moment depending on their fitness.
“Thankfully the rotation of players is an issue of the past.England have picked their top squad for the Test in the front of them as they always have done, and Broad has been a part of the team in every one of the seven Tests played this summer.” he added.
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