JAMES Anderson finished England’s drawn Ashes tour opener against a Western Australia XI with a spring in his step and four hard-earned wickets.
He conceded nonetheless, after he and the remainder of the attack were put under pressure by unheralded batsmen Josh Philippe (88) and Clint Hinchliffe (75), that England made a rusty start on the second and final day at the WACA.
Thanks largely to Anderson’s four for 27 – all his wickets coming in impressive second and third spells – England restricted their second-string opponents to 338 all out in reply to 349 for six declared.
They can therefore head east to Adelaide early on Monday morning satisfied that preparations for the first Test in Brisbane at the end of this month are slightly more advanced.
“I think you could probably see from the first session we were rusty ... that was pretty obvious,” said Anderson.
“We didn’t get it right at all.
“But we’ve got two first-class games coming up that we want to be fit for, and get those cobwebs out.”
Anderson and his Test pace partner Stuart Broad both struggled to find lateral movement against 20-year-old opener Philippe, who chanced his arm and timed the ball beautifully for 16 fours off 92 balls.
“I didn’t have much rhythm first up,” added Anderson. “It didn’t feel great, and there wasn’t much swing either with the new ball.
“But then I thought I got better as the day went on, and most of the bowlers would probably say the same.”
Broad, arguably, struggled most but did finish the day with a tailend wicket in his 13th and final over.
“I thought Broady bowled a really good spell at the back end there – and that spell at 5 or 530 in the afternoon can be just as crucial as the ones first thing in the morning,” said Anderson.
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