Horror show by batsmen behind England rout in NatWest series: Anderson

James AndersonLondon, Sep 24: England fast bowler James Anderson has voiced his frustration and anger at the England batsmen for their disastrous NatWest series performance against Australia.

In the absence of experienced batsman like Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Peitersen, the inexperienced England team was not able to cope with the formidable Australians, which resulted in a 6-1 series defeat.

“I don''t want this to sound horrible, but they can''t do much worse. They know exactly what they have to do. The whole thing about one-day cricket is that the top six get the bulk of the runs,” The Telegraph quoted Anderson, as saying.

“You can''t have Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann coming in and having to score runs. So, the top six know they have to do their jobs. It''s very frustrating to watch when they get out but we know they are not doing it on purpose,” he added.

Anderson further said the vital difference between the two squad was that the Australians were able to convert their 20s and 30s into big hundreds, while England failed to perform at the same level.

“It''s the guy in the middle who has done it. Batters know that, if they get to 20 or 30, they should be going on to get at least 80, maybe 100. That''s what we''ve been missing - a big score,” Anderson said.

“To lose 6-1 is a helluva thumping. We are away from England now, which means we can start afresh with new teams to play against. We have two days practice to put right some of the things that went horribly wrong against Australia,” he added.

During the series, Ravi Bopara scored 167 runs at an average of 23.85, Owais Shah scored 160 at 22.85, all-rounder Luke Wright scored 79 at 19.75 and wicketkeeper Matt Prior was able to score just 112 at an average of 16.

Even Paul Collingwood looked out of touch and his 120 runs at a slow strike rate of 60 per 100 balls. (ANI)