England all-rounder Sam Curran says he was stunned at the condemnation levelled at seamer James Anderson and that his international future is being called into question subsequent to the three-wicket win against Pakistan in last week’s first test in Manchester.
On the first day of the second test against Pakistan, Anderson beheld to be England’s utmost intimidating bowler as he made use of the overhead environments impeccably well to return statistics of 2-35 in 15 overs and help confine the visitors to 126 for 5 at the close on the day of rain and bad light, amid fears of a lightning strike.
But then after a match cumulative of 1-97 in the first game of the series, Anderson, with 592 test wickets, seemed to be made the victim for England’s back-foot performance, when in fact it was a dearth of runs in the game for the home side that had permitted the visitors to get on top.
“He (Anderson) went really well today, I was pretty shocked with all the stuff that was going on about him, he a world-class bowler and anybody who doubts him is not being sensible,” Curran told reporters.
“He has proven how good he is and is now approaching 600 (test) wickets. I’m sure he will get there.”
Curran took the crucial wicket of the established Abid Ali, whose score of 60 is the lone one of note so far in the Pakistan innings.
The damp settings made batting more problematic the elongated the day went on, conferring to the left-arm seamer.
“The ball probably did more later in the day. From them being 90 for two after a couple of drops, we did well to finish where we did. It was good bowling conditions and I thought we bowled really nicely. I was just trying to be patient. We spoke about sticking together as a unit and it paid off.” Curran concluded.
Anderson took two wickets for 35 runs on the first day as he removed Shan Masood and captain Azhar Ali. He now has 592 wickets in Tests and just eight wickets shy of the milestone.
