England head coach Brendon McCullum defended legendary pacer-turned bowling coach James Anderson’s decision to delay his arrival in Pakistan owing to participation in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a pro-am golf competition in Scotland. As a result of his involvement in the tournament, Anderson, 42, who turned the red-ball side’s bowling coach during the Test summer after his retirement from international cricket following a match against West Indies, missed the pre-series presentation for the three Tests in Pakistan and would not be arriving there till October 8, which will mark the second day of the first Test match, as per Wisden.
However, the legend has maintained contact with English pacers in the meanwhile, which is an inexperienced line-up led by veteran Chris Woakes and features youngsters Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse.
McCullum defended Anderson’s delayed arrival on Sky Sports, quoted as saying by Wisden. “Two months ago, you guys were saying he did not deserve to be the coach. Now we are missing him. That is affirmation of how good an impact Jimmy Anderson has made in the short period of time [during] his transition from player to coach.”
The Test head coach also said that, “We live in a world where you can still communicate without being face to face.”
McCullum emphasised that Anderson has made a huge transition from a bowler to coach following a career over two decades and his role is not full time.
Notably, Pakistan is currently playing England in a three-match series, with the first Test at Multan starting from today. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.
England is at the fourth place in ICC World Test Championship standings with eight wins, seven losses and a draw after series wins against West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Pakistan are eighth in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 standings after their series loss to Bangladesh at home.
Teams:
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood(c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.
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