James Anderson on Wednesday said that England “absolutely nailed it” after they dismissed India for just 78 on the opening day of the third Test at Headingley before surging into a first-innings lead without losing a wicket and taking their score to 182-2 at lunch yesterday.
India captain Virat Kohli won the toss only for Anderson to remove a trio of top-order batsmen, including the tourists’ skipper, during a return of 3-6 in eight overs.
Anderson saw Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed compile an unbroken stand of 120 that left England 42 runs ahead at stumps on Wednesday.
Photo: AP
“We just absolutely nailed it,” Anderson said. “With both ball and bat, we’ve displayed exactly what we wanted to do.”
It was just the third time any side had taken all 10 wickets and moved ahead on the first day of a Test without losing a single batsman in reply.
The previous occasion was during England’s triumph in a 2010 clash in Melbourne, when they dismissed Australia for 98 before Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook saw them to 157-0 at stumps.
Anderson is the last remaining England survivor from that match.
That allowed him to put Wednesday in perspective.
“It doesn’t get much better than that I don’t think. These days don’t come around very often, so you just have to be happy when they do,” he said.
“The only difference with Melbourne is that I was keen to bowl there and I wasn’t today for some reason,” he said. “I was trying to tempt Joe [Root, the England captain] into batting, but losing the toss, being asked to bowl and then putting in a performance like that. It just doesn’t get much better.”
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