The Ashes 2013: James Anderson - The one man army?

James Anderson’s heroics won England the first Test

England started the fifth day of the Trent Bridge Test needing 4 wickets to win, and the bowling spearhead James Anderson, responded by bowling like a man possessed.

During a marathon spell of 13 overs, he found the edge four times, three of which were taken in the slips to leave England on the brink of victory. With Australia still 80 runs away from the target, surely Anderson had done enough to secure the victory.

Or so it seemed. Once Anderson was taken off the attack, the last Australian pair hardly had any troubles in dealing with the rest of the attack and made a serious charge towards the target. It left the skipper Alastair Cook with no other options but to throw the ball back to his go-to man after lunch. And quite inevitably, Anderson delivered again.

The celebrations by the English players after the last wicket fell betrayed more a sense of relief than joy. The way the Australian lower order negated the attack in the absence of Anderson has, no doubt, given the hosts plenty to worry about ahead of the next Test.

During the press conference, while Cook took great pains to explain that England are not overly dependent on Anderson, the statistics tell a different story. Not only he picked up half the Australian wickets to fall, he also bowled more overs than Stuart Broad and Steven Finn combined.

In the first innings too, it was Anderson who proved to be the difference. He produced a brute of a delivery to grab the big wicket of Michael Clarke and followed it with another incisive spell the next day to reduce the Aussies to 117/9. On a wicket which offered very little for the seamers after the first day, the ace paceman adapted brilliantly to the conditions and showcased his mastery on reverse swing to get the job done.

Michael Clarke got a peach of a delivery from Anderson

Apart from his dexterity, his meticulous planning was also on view when he dismissed the well set opener Chris Rogers with a well disguised slower delivery in the second innings.

While Anderson went from strength to strength and reaffirmed his status as England’s lead bowler, the efforts of the support cast left much to be desired. Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Steven Finn bowled well in patches but were unable to sustain the pressure for longer periods.