England tailenders have to practice batting, says England star
The tactics of the Australian bowlers against the tailend of
the English team has nothing subtle about it. Steven Smith himself claimed that
the bowlers were asked to bowl short and target the upper body of the English
tailenders—something that has clearly worked with the lower-order of the Three
Lions finding it almost impossible to face the Aussie pacers.
And now, James Anderson has called his bowling partners to take
on the nets and practice the short-ball on a regular basis. In a column for The
Telegraph, the Englishman stated that he talked with the umpires for their
opinion and they told him to put in more hours on the net to improve their batting.
"I have actually chatted to the umpires about it during
this series and they say at Test level you should be able to handle short
balls. That is a clear message to get in the nets and practice against
bouncers," Anderson wrote.
When he did that during the game, most reports stated that
he was asking for assistance from the officials in order to protect himself and
his mates from the onslaught.
"I was not quizzing the umpires or asking them to stop
it happening. I was just interested in their opinion.
"I guess we just need to get better at playing them. I
have no problem with that. It is part and parcel of the game.”
Anderson was smashed in the jaw by a bouncer from Pat
Cummins. Despite having the helmet on, he seemed knackered after being hit by
the ball and took his time to get back to batting. He also claimed that he had
a "slightly sore jaw for a couple of days".
"When I was hit on the side of the head it was the first ball of my innings and I just did not get into a great position to play the shot."
However, Anderson himself admits that the English bowlers will keep bowling bouncers at the Australian tail-end, but also asked for teh umpires to interfere when things get out of hand.
"We have bounced tailenders in this series and at other teams," he wrote.
“The only time I think umpires should step in is if it is clear that a player cannot cope with them. Then the umpires should step in more."
The pacer then spoke of how the mater for the Three Lions is about saving their pride now.
"We know it will not stop in this series and playing
the short ball better is one challenge for the final two Tests when we need to
show some pride and prove to people we are not a walkover as a team."
