Ashes: James Anderson Speaks on Facing Steve Smith

The stage is set. The preparations are in full swing for the upcoming Ashes series. The fight this year would be much more intense marking the start of the new WTC cycle. Moreover, with the next series 2 years away, there is a very strong possibility that veteran players like James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, and others could be playing their Ashes series.

Ahead of the start of the series, James Anderson opened up on facing one of the finest test batters, Steve Smith. James Anderson has had a dream career. The fast bowler recently completed 20 years in test cricket and his numbers speak about the kind of bowler he is. During Australia’s last visit to England, Smith was the highest run-scorer with 774 runs in four Tests. The test batter had a rough patch but got back to scoring runs soon.

“He’s (Steve Smith) had a lot of success against us in recent times,” says James Anderson

Speaking about the change of need, James Anderson mentioned that the team has been focusing way too much on creating pitches that will pick wickets quickly. “I never really like singling anyone out, but he’s had a lot of success against us in recent times. Maybe in the past we’ve actually gone overboard in thinking of ways to get people out,” the bowler said about Steve Smith. Furthermore, the 40-year-old bowler explained the importance of giving space to the batters and bowlers and how it has been beneficial to the team.

“What we’ve done brilliantly in the last 12 months is thinking about what we do well. That’s worked particularly well for the batters not worrying about who’s bowling at them. And just really concentrating on their strengths and the areas they can score in,” James Anderson said. Since June last year, when Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over the team’s work, England has not lost any test series. Therefore, going into the Ashes 2023, it’ll be a big task for England to keep up with their winning streak and win the prestigious series. The Ashes will begin on June 16 and end on July 31st.