I apologized to both umpires for my unacceptable behavior: James Anderson

James Anderson earned yet another bad reputation for lashing out at the umpires during the third Test at Edgbaston. The 33-year old, perceived to be the ‘King of swing’ has apologized to the umpires for his ‘unacceptable’ behavior during the second day’s play. As a result, Anderson apologised to both the on-field umpires Bruce Oxenford and Joel Wilson.

The incident occurred when the Anderson reacted strongly when the umpire warned him about running in the danger zone of the pitch.  “It was a frustrating day,” Anderson said. “I had a bad half-hour where I let things get to me. I’ve apologized to both umpires as my behaviour wasn’t acceptable. It was a bit petulant. I was a bit out of order at one point. I have always had a bit of an issue running on the wicket and I know I am tight. I wasn’t convinced that I had [run on the pitch], but Bruce had the third or fourth umpire in his ear telling him I was.

“Having seen my reactions on TV, it doesn’t look great when I’m pointing at the pitch. I don’t necessarily think it was what I said, it was just the way I behaved. I had a bad half-hour, I’ve apologised and hopefully, that will be the end of it.”

While Pakistan played the vicious England pace attack, it was clear that they were treating it with the class that it deserved, something that attributed to their success with the bat. A few dropped catches from the Brits eventually got Anderson’s tail up, adding to the frustration.

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“The dropped catch probably added to the frustration, but you have to try and deal with things like that,” he said. “There are going to be times when catches go down. There are going to be times when the opposition plays well, as they did today. They played really well. The pitch has lost some pace. It didn’t have the zip it had on the first day. But we did a good job.

“We created chances and it that catch had stuck, who knows what might have happened. There were some good bowling and some average batting that got us into this situation. Today I thought we bowled reasonably well. But we could have bowled slightly better. We had chances and we didn’t take them. At this level, you get punished if you don’t take your chances.”

“That competitive edge has helped me throughout my career. I know there are times I can get close to that line. I try to control it, but I don’t want to lose that competitive edge. It’s a balancing act.”

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