LONDON — Fast bowler James Anderson has tipped England's new faces to help them to a first global title in the upcoming World Twenty20.
Somerset's Craig Kieswetter scored his first international century on the recent tour of Bangladesh and Michael Lumb impressed for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
And Anderson has backed the fresh faces, who could open together, to make England a force to be reckoned with in the tournament which starts on Friday.
"They are new to the team and they bring a fearless element to the top of the order," Anderson told reporters at London's Gatwick Airport ahead of the team's departure for the West Indies.
"They are exciting players -- I have seen a lot of them in Twenty20 cricket -- and Michael has been out in the IPL so he's got a lot of Twenty20 experience and they both bring a lot of excitement to the top of the order.
"At the top of the order you have got to make the most of the first six overs and you need that element of fearlessness and they have got a fresher outlook because they have not been around the squad that long."
Despite appearing in three World Cup finals, the last of which was in 1992, England is only the major playing nation not to have won an ICC global tournament.
But Anderson is confident that unwelcome statistic will soon be erased from the record books.
He said: "We have shown glimpses of what we can in the past in tournaments.
"In the Champions' Trophy we showed we are improving at the short form of the game. And with the new additions to the squad we are strengthening in the right areas.
"I think this is an exciting squad - not just the 11 that are playing - we have got 16 players who can win games for England.
"We go into every tournament thinking we can win it. We have got a new-look squad with some guys who are less experienced but do bring that element of excitement to the team.
"We have got a great chance. We had a good tour of Dubai and a good one-day series in Bangladesh so if we can gel together early in the tour there is no reason we can't go on and win it."
Anderson rested whilst England were in Bangladesh to recover from a knee problem but has taken 11 wickets in two Championship appearances for Lancashire since returning to action.
He added: "For me it was about getting some overs under my belt and testing the knee out to make sure it could stand up to bowling again. It has done that and now we can get out to the Caribbean and start thinking about Twenty20 cricket."
Fourteen squad members flew to Barbados on Sunday. Captain Paul Collingwood is already in the Caribbean and Kevin Pietersen will join the team on Tuesday after his involvement in the Indian Premier League.
No comments:
Post a Comment