“I couldn’t argue when I was left out. I hadn’t done anything to keep my place, I wasn’t bowling well,” That’s Jimmy’s view of the decision to drop him during the recent world cup.
Does Jimmy justify a recall? On the form he showed in Australia and at the world cup, I’d have to say no.
He could be excused his performances in the ODI series in Australia due to his travelling back and forth to England after the birth of his baby, but after that he should have been able to get himself up for the world cup.
He also went onto say “I now have work to do to get back in the one-day side. I want to play for England as much as I can.” For me, this is good in a couple of ways.
1) He doesn’t regard himself as just having been left out for tiredness and expect to walk back into the team.
2) He is showing a good attitude.
The downside for me with Anderson is that I believe he is very much a confidence player. In 50 over cricket he is easier to get after and his head tends to drop if a batsman takes a fancy to him.
Another bad experience this summer might knock his confidence even more and start to have an effect on his test performances.
Then again, if he is going to perform, surely it will be in England with the home conditions he excels in. If he hits the ground running and regains his form and confidence in the test matches against Sri Lanka then why not give him another chance.
For me, I think I’d wait and see how he performs against Sri Lanka in the tests, if he looks confident and up for it then I’d pick him, if he struggles, then leave him out.
