"Tim Southee broke the ice pretty quickly" - James Anderson on his conversation with New Zealand seamer after one-run loss in Wellington
Veteran England seamer James Anderson recently opened up on his conversation with Tim Southee after a one-run loss to New Zealand in Wellington earlier this year. The 40-year-old revealed that Southee felt England owed them for the 2019 World Cup final.
Anderson was in the thick of things as he was the last man to be dismissed when England needed two runs for victory with nine wickets down. However, the right-arm seamer edged one down the leg side off Neil Wagner as Basin Reserve erupted in joy.
With that, the Kiwis also leveled the two-Test series after a humiliating defeat in the first match.
James Anderson, who smashed a boundary two overs ago to bring the target down to two runs, rued about the wide that wasn't given the ball before. The 179-Test veteran feels England should've resorted to aggressive cricket long ago, given the talent at their disposal.
As quoted by the Daily Mail, he said:
"I was still fuming, obviously, that I’d got out and that they didn't give a wide the ball before. But Tim Southee broke the ice pretty quickly afterwards, saying "you guys owed us one after the World Cup final."
"I'm surprised it's taken us this long to play this way. Look at the talent that we've got in our team, it just shows what can happen if you start pushing the boundaries a little, pushing the ceiling of what you can do," Anderson added.
While James Anderson and Tim Southee didn't play in the 2019 World Cup final, it will go down as one of the most memorable matches in history. Both sides finished at 241; however, England lifted the trophy due to a superior boundary count.
"I wouldn’t say it’s unfinished business" - James Anderson ahead of the Ashes series
Looking ahead to the upcoming Ashes series at home, James Anderson lamented at getting ruled out after only sending down four overs in the 2019 leg.
"I wouldn’t say it’s unfinished business, but it’s one reason why I don’t want to think about that at the moment. It didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, obviously, but I did bowl four good overs in the series. What works for me is looking at next week and what my programme looks like for the week after," he continued.
While England haven't held the urn since 2015, Ben Stokes and Co. will back themselves to regain it this time, given their form in the last 18 months.