London: Veteran England fast bowler James Anderson, who has started training again, is enjoying being back on the cricket field.
On Monday, Anderson posted a video of himself on Instagram in which he can be seen running in and then delivering the ball at the Old Trafford.
“I’ve missed this place! Slowly easing through the gears but enjoying being back,” Anderson wrote as the caption.
England players resumed their training last week as the country plans for a return of international cricket which has remained suspended since mid-March following the coronavirus outbreak.
England were on their tour of Sri Lanka when all cricketing activities came to a grinding halt due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus. All professional cricket activities currently remain suspended there till July 1 and the England team are next slated to play West Indies and thereafter Pakistan.
Anderson recently said his teammates will have to motivate each other when cricket resumes, and in all likelihood, in front of empty stands.
“We’re lucky (in England) that most Test matches are sold out, certainly the first few days, we get big crowds so motivating yourself isn’t an issue,” Anderson told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies via Instagram Live.
“You just get out there in front of a packed house and it’s quite easy to get up for a game. I think we might have to lean on each other as players if there’s no crowd there, no atmosphere, we hear the sound of leather on willow echoing around the ground rather than the applause,” he added.
In the post-COVID era, cricket will see a number of changes amongst which one would be the ban on usage of saliva to shine the ball as has been recommended by the ICC Cricket Committee.
“It’s a massive thing for me because to get the ball to swing, you need to be able to polish the ball and repair it when it gets scuffs on it,” said Anderson who is England’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket and One-Day Internationals.
