James Anderson has made it quite clear that they are eyeing on 5-0 in this Ashes Series against Australia. England have never managed to catapult such feat whereas their arch rivals have achieved this feat twice. England registered a massive win by 347 runs at Lord’s on Sunday and Anderson believes that if they continue their good work then this dream of 5-0 can be turned to reality. But at the very moment, his focus is on winning the Third Test which will be played at his home ground, Old Trafford on August 1.
Anderson was named Man-of-the-Match after the first test for picking up 10 wickets in a match. Interesting thing about the match was that he looked the only bowler to get Aussies out but things tunred around within a week’s time as he struggled at Lord’s to rattle the fragile Aussie batting with his swing. English swing bowler was quoted by The Hindu saying, "I don't really feel any sympathy. We want to win the series 5-0, so we will be doing everything we can in each game to win."
He added, "Obviously I'm delighted to be playing at my home ground, very excited about it . I've never played an Ashes Test there, I've not played a Test there for maybe three or four years. All my friends and family will be there watching so I can't wait."
He is expecting that conditions at Old Trafford will suit the bowling attack of England, especially Graeme Swann who picked up nine wickets in last Test. Conditions and pitch at Old Trafford is going to be very much same as they have got in the first couple of Tests. He was quoted by Deccan Herald saying, "I can't imagine it'll be too different from what we've had in the first two games, so Swanny should be involved at some point. Reverse swing is very common at Old Trafford and it's very dry, with the weather we've been having, so I imagine that's the same at the moment.”
Meanwhile the reports in Times of India quoted Anderson saying,” The team is very much optimistic about the fitness of Kevin Pietersen for the third Ashes Test at Old Trafford.”
Pietersen, arguably England's most talented batsman, was off the field due to calf injury. In his recent tweet Pietersen said, "I am stuck on a sofa tightly fastened to an ice machine" in a bid to be ready to play at Manchester's Old Trafford where the third Test starts on August 1.
Anderson added, "As far as I know it was a strain so we'll keep our fingers crossed that he'll be fine for the Old Trafford Test. For him more than most, the next 10 days will be crucial, a lot of rehab and trying to get himself fit for next week -- which we're all hoping he will be."
In the reports published in Deccan Chronicle, the English the ace pacer was quoted saying, “Joe Root has been an amazing talent and his match-winning knock of 180 in the second innings at Lord's was his hall-mark.”
"There's a lot of pressure on this series and for someone so young to take it in his stride, it's a great credit to him -- he seems to thrive off it, almost. The way he has dealt with it will stand him in good stead for the future and I'm sure he's got a big future ahead of him,” he concluded.
