James Anderson eager to rejoin England Test squad

• Anderson may return for the India Test.
• England and India will play the postponed Test starting this Friday.
• Anderson made his debut in 2022.

In this week’s long-delayed India series finale, James Anderson is ecstatic to rejoin a “fearless” England team, unlike any he has encountered in two decades of international cricket.

The match on Friday in Birmingham comes just four days after England’s 3-0 victory over the world champions of Test cricket, New Zealand.

Prior to this series, England had only won one of seventeen Tests. That was in Leeds versus India last year.

However, India fought back to take a 2-1 lead before the September match at Manchester’s Old Trafford was postponed owing to a Covid-19 concern and the withdrawal of the tourists.

The fifth Test will be played at Edgbaston instead, with England emboldened by their swashbuckling chases of 277, 299, and 296 runs against the Black Caps under their new red-ball leadership combo of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, himself a former New Zealand captain.

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In 2002, Anderson made his debut in international cricket. His 651 dismissals and 171 Test appearances are both England records.

Even the 39-year-old swing specialist was stunned by England’s extraordinary run rate of 4.54 runs per over during the New Zealand series. Both the in-form former captain Joe Root and the revitalized Jonny Bairstow hit nearly 400 runs, with both Yorkshiremen achieving two centuries.

“I have never been in a dressing room before when we have chased almost 300 on a pitch that is turning and everyone being so calm, just believing we were going to chase them down,” Anderson, 39, told reporters on Wednesday.

“That for me, after 20 years of playing international cricket, was something I had never seen before…
As a bowler, I think it’s horrible! I don’t want to think of someone coming at me like that. But the confidence our batters have got at the moment…they’re just fearless.”

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