James Anderson is raring to go for the start of England’s tour of the UAE as he prepares to return to the international scene after a side strain cut short his involvement in the victorious Ashes campaign.
Anderson had taken ten wickets, including 6-47 in the first innings at Edgbaston before an injury in the same Test ensured he was off the field for the remainder of the series.
Having taken 11 wickets in two matches for Lancashire in the final two games of the LV= County Championship season, Anderson is ready to help England with the difficult challenge they will face in the UAE.
“I’m itching to get going again, it was frustrating to miss the last couple of Tests of the summer but I’ve played a bit for Lancashire which was good, got some wickets, so felt in good form and since being out here all of us have acclimatised quite quickly and are raring to go,” Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket taker, said.
“I don’t look past the next game, I want to play as much as possible so I just take it game-by-game and if I can play all three games this series that would be great.
“We are aware of the challenge ahead,” he added. “We are aware of how we performed last time we were here.
“We’ve turned things around a little bit, a change in personnel, and as we saw in the Ashes - we lost them in 2013 but then won them back - so it’s all about how you prepare and play in that particular series. What happened in the past doesn’t really matter that much.
“We want to improve on the performances from the summer. We know we can play better than we did even though we won that series, we want to continue and improve and show people how exciting we can be.”
The challenge of returning to the international scene can be tough in any conditions but with heat of over 40 degrees and conditions not suited to his style of bowling, Anderson’s task has been even tougher.
However, the 33-year-old believes the whole squad is ready to go as England look to inflict the first defeat on Pakistan in the UAE.
“We know they will be challenging, the heat will be a tough ask for the bowlers and will make it difficult for us,” he said
“But we’ve acclimatised well and it’s the same for both teams, they’ll feel it as much as we do. We are excited for the challenge and we’ve done all we can do be ready for Tuesday.
“Last time we were here we had a decent amount of success, myself and Stuart and the two spinners, so we know how to get 20 wickets out here.
“We know we’ll have to bowl very well to do that. It’s an exciting challenge; the conditions, the heat, if we do perform well it will be very satisfying. And it is very important we start well.”
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