Anderson Says England Remain In Good Heart!

It has been a troubled series for England against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates as they have already lost the series against the bwin odds at the beginning of January. James Anderson though is insisting that England remain in good heart despite their poor performances.

It has been a disappointing test for England’s batsmen who have found it difficult to get some high scoring innings on the board as the bwin review shows. After three poor totals in four attempts, culminating in 72 all out to lose the second Test and therefore the three-match series. As if the conditions and form wasn’t difficult enough to deal with, the batsmen have also been prone to stomach viruses over the last week.

Ian Bell had to miss practice because of a stomach virus yesterday which didn’t boost morale, and he is the third batsman to fall ill after Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara complained complained of stomach problems during the second-Test defeat at the Zayed Stadium.

Bell is expected to recover in time for the third and final Test, starting back in Dubai on Friday, while fast bowler Anderson reported there is still a buoyant atmosphere in the squad.

“The mood is still pretty good considering the position we’re in,” he said. “We’re just really concentrating on how we’re going to win this game starting on Friday.”

Bell explained on Tuesday that he and his fellow batsmen held clear-the-air talks about their collective ineffectiveness against Pakistan’s spinners.

And Anderson added: “There has been a lot of talk about that; we’ve practised hard the last couple of days and we’re just really looking forward to getting on with things on Friday now.

“I don’t think there are more meetings than we normally have. We debrief every game and the debrief was probably a bit longer than normal this time.

“We’re an open and honest group and the guys have been open and honest these last couple of days. All we’re concentrating on now is Friday.”