James Anderson, on Thursday, took a 5-wicket haul at Headingley, helping bowl out Sri Lanka for a paltry 91 runs in the first innings at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds. Coming into this match, Anderson had a modest record at Headingley, averaging 41.36 from the seven Tests he had played at this ground.
Anderson, who had never taken more than three wickets in an innings here, credited his change in fortunes to changing the ends from which Stuart Broad and him bowled at the ground. After a conversation with strike partner, the bowlers decided to exchange ends and reaped the rewards.
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Anderson, bowling from the Football Stand End, picked up the 19th 5-wicket haul of his career while Broad picked up four scalps. The bowlers combined to pick up 9 wickets while conceding just 37 runs, helping to bowl out Sri Lanka cheaply.
England’s most successful Test fast bowler was delighted that he finally tasted success at Headingley. Speaking to reporters after day’s play, he said, “We've hated the place for nine years, so we thought we might as well change ends. We've had very little success here. Our records are pretty poor. Why not give it a go?”
Explaining his decision to change ends, he said, "It's taken us nine years to work out that we've been bowling at the wrong ends. That's a bit frustrating, but I'm delighted that we've eventually sorted it out and got some rewards.”
The 33-year-old pacer also felt that the current Headingley pitch was different to the one normally used there. He said that there was a bit more in the pitch for bowlers and he liked it when the pitch helped the ball swing like that. Anderson felt that these conditions were ideal for him and he had a lot of fun bowling to the Sri Lankans.
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England bowled Sri Lanka out for 91 runs and enforced follow-on as there were concerns over how the weather would play out for the remaining duration of the game.
Explaining the reason for enforcing the follow-on, Anderson said: “In an ideal world we would have batted again, but with the weather forecast a bit iffy for the next couple of days, we thought we needed to put them in again.”
England are playing Sri Lanka in a three Test, five ODI “Super Series” which will also include a solitary T20I match. The winner of the series will be decided on the basis of the points accrued in all three formats of the game to be played.
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