James Anderson Expressed His Gratefulness To Caribbean Counterparts For Deciding To Play In England

England veteran pace bowler James Anderson has extended his gratefulness to their Caribbean guests for making their presence felt in a historical tour. It is historic since it is the first instance of international cricket since March. The COVID-19 crisis had put a full-stop to all professional international cricket with England doing the honours of restarting it.

The 25-member squad of the West Indies for the three-Test series landed in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. All the players went through COVID-19 testing before leaving Antigua, and their results came as negative. The series will begin in Southampton from the 8th of July while the Old Trafford in Manchester will host the next two.

James Anderson lauded the West Indies’ players courageous decision to tour their country in such a sensitive time. Anderson felt brilliant that professional cricket would finally resume after a long hiatus and he can envision his tourists’ decision to come over here under frightening circumstances. The United Kingdom has been one of the worst-affected countries amongst the top five, having recorded more than 40000 fatalities.

“It’s great for the game, brilliant, that we’re closing in on getting some test cricket played after a decent layoff. From our point of view, we’re very grateful the West Indies are coming over here. With what’s going on in the world, I can imagine it’s a scary decision for a lot of them, for all of them, to make the journey over.” James Anderson said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Luckily, I’ve got enough space to fit half my run-up in on my drive: James Anderson

The Lancashire pacer addressed the workload since the players haven’t had competitive cricket since the past few months. At the same time, having managed to train during the lockdown, the 37-year-old found enough space to practice freely on his drive. James Anderson has been quite injury-prone, having quit the four-match Test series in South Africa midway due to a rib fracture.

“I managed to tick over quite well during lockdown. Luckily, I’ve got enough space to fit half my run-up in on my drive. There are concerns — we’re not going to have had any competitive cricket before that first test match and we’ve got three tests in quick succession, so there are obviously things we need to look at in terms of workloads and whether we play all three as bowlers or whether we rotate.” he added further.

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