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England veteran pace bowler James Anderson once again rose to the occasion when his team needed him the most. The right-armer produced excellent bowling figures to help England bundle out Australia for 267 on Day 2 of the ongoing third Ashes Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Anderson went on to take a four-wicket haul while conceding only 33 runs in 23 overs, including as many as 10 maidens. The ‘Burnley Express’ got his first wicket of the second day when he dismissed Australian vice-captain, Steve Smith.
It all happened during the 36th over of Australia’s first innings when Anderson bowled a perfect inswinger. The ball nipped back in sharply, and Smith played a casual shot only to get the inside edge as the red-leather passed through the gates and hit the top of his off-stump.
Here is the video:
James Anderson gets the big, big wicket of Steve Smith – England are asking questions on day two! #Ashes pic.twitter.com/J1jRZDWkEQ
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 27, 2021
Anderson’s effort goes in vain with another English batting collapse
After bundling out Australia for 267, the visitors were just 82 runs behind and needed a few overs to deal with before they could start off with new targets in mind on Day 3.
However, English batters faced a hostile spell from Aussie pacers as they couldn’t control the fall of wickets to again lose the momentum they got due to some excellent bowling by England seamers. England ended Day 2 at 31/4 in just 12 overs.
Aussie pace duo of Mitchell Starc (2/11) and Scott Boland (2/1) picked up two wickets each to put the hosts in the driving seat. Captain Pat Cummins didn’t get any wicket, but he somehow set the tone by bowing that magnificent six-over spell.
Reacting to the batting failure, Anderson expressed his disappointment with the way England batsmen dealt those 12 overs. However, the 39-year-old heaped praises on Starc and Cummins for exhibiting world-class bowling.
“It was a very disappointing finish to the day. I thought we bowled really well to keep the pressure on, and to bowl them out for less than 300 was a good effort. Then it was a challenging 12 overs. It was a great spell from Starc and Cummins, to be fair, but you expect that as they are world-class bowlers who have performed like that for a number of years. It is disappointing to lose four wickets in 12 overs,” Anderson told BT Sport.
