Anderson: England won't target Warner

Joy Chakravarty 15:35 13/02/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Australia's David Warner will come up against James Anderson at the MCG on Saturday.

    MELBOURNE, Australia — England have a plan for Australia for the opening match of the Cricket World Cup 2015, but that does not include winding up the fragile temper of David Warner.

    The International Cricket Council (ICC) has promised to levy serious penalty on any player violating their code of conduct during the 44-day tournament, and the aggressive Australian opening batsman, a serial offender, is being seen as the prime candidate to test ICC’s patience.

    But England fast bowler James Anderson said the only way to beat the rampant hosts, who are expected to be well supported by over 90,000 fans for the match on Saturday, is to play good cricket and be consistent throughout the match rather than brilliant in patches.

    Anderson, who is himself no saint and has been sanctioned several times in the past for on-field altercations with opposition players, said: “Having played against him (Warner) in the past, I don’t think he needs too much encouragement.

    “We are going out there to concentrate on what we do. We are going to try to be aggressive with the ball up-front all the way through the innings and try and take wickets.

    “Our main job is to get them out, not to rile them up, so we will be concentrating on that.”

    In last year’s Ashes series during the Brisbane Test, Anderson did such a good job of chirping to the Australians that captain Michael Clarke walked up to him and threatened the Englishman to “get ready for a f****** broken arm”.

    Anderson, who made his debut 12 years ago in an ODI at Melbourne, has featured in three disappointing World Cups for England, but believes things are a bit different with this Eoin Morgan-led side.

    “The last few (World Cups) have been very unsuccessful from our point of view,” said the 32-year-old paceman, who is expected to lead the English bowling attack.

    “This time there’s a real difference in the belief. There’s a genuine belief that we can surprise a few teams. We feel confident enough that we can beat anyone if we have our day.

    “In a tournament like this, it is all about qualifying for the quarter-finals and then you are three matches away from winning the World Cup. We’re really keen on getting off to a positive start and hopefully everything else will take care of itself after that.”

    Anderson added that the side was disappointed to lose three matches in the recent Tri-series after being in strong positions, but there was also optimism in the camp that they needed to make minor changes and they can start dominating.

    “We played really well in patches,” he said. “We know we have work to do probably in the middle periods both with bat and ball, and at the death with the ball is something we are still working really hard on.

    “We have done some really good things in that Tri-series. We got over 300 against Australia and couldn’t quite defend it, things like that are building confidence in our team.

    “We are hoping we can put things together tomorrow when it really counts.”

    Recommended