England has the finest new-ball bowlers now

Precision and restraint are Anderson and Broad’s watchwords, writes Ted Corbett

August 23, 2014 02:18 am | Updated 02:21 am IST

HUNTING IN PAIRS: Stuart Broad (in picture) and James Anderson have shown beyond doubt that they are fit companyfor all those English bowlers who have shown up great batsmen down all the years.

HUNTING IN PAIRS: Stuart Broad (in picture) and James Anderson have shown beyond doubt that they are fit companyfor all those English bowlers who have shown up great batsmen down all the years.

If you are still searching for the reason behind the brutal defeat of India in England last week, there are two simple reasons.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad have now shown beyond doubt that they are fit company for all those English fast medium bowlers who have taunted, mocked and shown up great batsmen down all the years.

Captain Alastair Cook claims Anderson is the best he has played with. “He’s the most skilful bowler in the world,” Cook adds. Half a dozen years ago Michael Vaughan, another England captain, said Broad was the best young bowler he had worked alongside.

In elite company

Link them to Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram and Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie; they are now the finest operators in the world at that pace just below fast — say 83 miles an hour — and when the pitch gives them encouragement, they are devastating.

The highest-ranking Indian officials must have been tempted to demand the resignation of Duncan Fletcher as soon as the series ended.

Fletcher can't complain

By the impatient standards that govern sport, from American football to Australian Rules, Fletcher cannot complain when he finds Ravi Shastri is now his boss.

During his watch India has lost more Tests than it has won and this summer it has lost a series after taking a 1-0 lead.

As he must know after years in England, that would be an automatic red card in the Premier League.

How a team that grabbed its chance with such conviction at Lord’s when the England seamers lost control and then gave away the next three Tests will always be a puzzle. Lack of pride in its own performance perhaps. English bowlers have followed the pattern set by Alec Bedser 60 years ago and frequently destroyed touring batsmen with their control and their understanding of our changeable pitches.

Men brought up on firm and fast wickets could not cope. In my country of uncertain weather the man with the new ball is king and now Anderson and Broad are just as fine with the new ball — and later with the modern touch provided by their knowledge of how to make the ball reverse — as any of the old giants. Both of them demonstrate every time they bowl that precision and restraint are their watchwords.

They confessed after the final Test that they got together when the Lord’s Test was finished and decided that they must in future aim for the top of the off stump.

Error rectified

They had bowled too short at Lord’s, carried away by the swing and the bounce but they soon realised the error of their ways and resorted to the words they must have heard day-in, day-out when they were learning their trade.

“Bowl at the off stump, son,” their coaches said, “and you will get your reward.”

Thus Anderson is on the verge of overtaking Ian Botham’s record crop of 383 Test wickets for England.

Happily that seems to give Botham as much pleasure as Anderson; the two of them are hard-working, tenacious northern England lads, always ready to speak their minds, and never short of a word or two, either straight into the ears of their opponents or in a rough encouragement for their teammates.

I am forecasting even better career figures for Broad, if only because he has an additional three inches in height.

To see him springing towards the wicket on the final day of the series was to see quick bowling at its best and when he finds a captain to guide him and England to even greater success there will be golden days and golden rewards.

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