England to continue with player-rotation policy, opines James Anderson
Veteran fast bowler James Anderson has admitted that England will continue with the player-rotation policy in the upcoming five-match Test series against India. The England team management has been rotating the players post the COVID-19-enforced break to manage the workload. Anderson, who is the leading wicket-taker among pacers in Tests, believes the pattern will retained in the India Test series.
Speaking on the rotation policy, Anderson said, "The five Tests against India might be a different story with back-to-back Tests in quite quick succession. That might be where people get rotated a bit more." "The rotation in the winter was completely understandable with the amount of cricket we had and the amount of time in bubbles that we were spending," he added.
England are set to host New Zealand in a two-match Test series, starting June 2. They will then play five Tests against India at Trent Bridge (August 4), Lord's (August 12), Headingley (August 25), Kennington Oval (September 2), and Emirates Old Trafford (September 10) respectively. Post the seven Tests, the English players will travel Down Under to take part in the 2020-21 Ashes.
Despite the rotation policy, Anderson aims to play all the upcoming Tests, including the ones against New Zealand and India. "Yes. I'd love to play all seven Tests this summer. There are five Tests against India after these two Tests against New Zealand, and then the Ashes after that. So, we want to start this summer well," he added.
During the last summer, the English team management refrained from playing both Anderson and Stuart Broad in the same XI as a part of workload management. Notably, Anderson and Broad make up the most successful fast-bowling pair (Tests). They have a total of 919 wickets between them in Test cricket alone (121 Tests). It remains to be seen if they feature together this time.
"if we do pick our strongest team we (Anderson and Broad) would like to think that we're both in that. And we'd love to share the new ball together. It'd be nice if we did get to play together," said Anderson on playing with Broad.
Anderson is presently the most successful fast bowler in Test cricket. He is the only seamer to have taken over 600 Test wickets (614), and is six shy of surpassing Anil Kumble's mark (619). Anderson, who has played 160 Tests, is also set to become England's most-capped Test player. The record is presently held by former England captain Alastair Cook (161).
Anderson is on the brink of completing 1,000 wickets in First-class cricket. He requires eight wickets to reach the historic landmark. "Thousand wickets does seem like a lot. In this day, I don't know if it's possible to get that many First-class wickets any more. With the amount of cricket that's played, there doesn't seem to be that longevity in bowlers," Anderson stated.
