Englan’s premier bowler James Anderson asked the ECB to redress the balance between the formats and to improve the pitches in county cricket.
After losing the Ashes 2021-22 down under in just 12 days, the knives are out for the England cricket team. England have been abysmal in the first three Tests, and the Boxing Day Test was even more embarrassing for them, having been hammered in just over two days.
Anderson feels the problem lies in the prioritisation of white-ball cricket and has asked the England and Wales Cricket Board to redress the balance.
After the innings defeat at MCG, England captain Joe Root had criticised the standard of county cricket and suggested that it needs a similar reset to what white-ball cricket received in 2015.
Anderson, addressing the media at England’s training session on Thursday, agreed to Root’s comments, adding that there had been a big push for white-ball cricket in 2015, and since then, there has been an imbalance between the formats.
“There has been a big push with white-ball cricket since the 2015 World Cup. I would like to think that maybe the balance between red- and white-ball cricket is there, going forward.
At the minute, it’s tipped slightly towards white-ball, and it has been for the last few years. we can hopefully just redress that balance a little bit,”
Anderson said.
There has been increasing criticism towards the County Championship for not producing the players who can sustain at the top level. With more result-oriented pitches, the art of batting long seemed to have faded, and young batters are found wanting in international cricket. The likes of Ollie Pope, Rory Burns and Dom Sibley haven’t been able to transform their County Championship batting exploits in Test cricket, while the bowlers are highly dependent on conditions.
“The wickets aren’t as good as they used to be. You see a lot more result pitches now in county cricket. So perhaps, with the bigger picture, that’s something we can think about in the future,”
he added.
Root’s position as a captain has also come under scrutiny, but Anderson has given his vote of confidence, stating that everyone thinks highly of Root as a person, cricketer and captain.
