England's captain, Andrew Strauss, hailed James Anderson as the best swing bowler in the world as he demolished Pakistan in the first Test in Nottingham. Anderson took his first 10-wicket haul in Tests as England made an invigorating start to their pre-Ashes series.
The A word is all but banned in the England dressing room but there is a spring in their step that is fast encouraging the belief that they can successfully defend the Ashes in Australia this winter.
Pakistan, who had beaten Australia at Headingley barely a week earlier, lost by 354 runs before lunch on the fourth day as they crumbled to 80 all out in their second innings, their lowest Test total in this country. Anderson was their tormenter, his six wickets for 17 runs giving him his best figures in a Test of 11 for 71.
"I always maintain that when the ball is swinging there is no better bowler in the world than Jimmy and he was able to put a huge amount of pressure on their batsmen," Strauss said. "Our bowling was outstanding all the way through that Test match, as was our fielding."
As Anderson held the match ball aloft to celebrate only the second 10-wicket haul of his career, the former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne echoed Strauss's assertion that the bowler has no betters when the ball is swinging. Anderson is the only survivor of the England attack that faced Australia in Warne's final Test in Sydney nearly four years ago – at the end of a 5-0 whitewash that ranks as England's greatest disappointment in the modern era – and, at 28, the Lancastrian has the chance to return this winter at his peak. Fears have been voiced that Anderson's potency could be vastly reduced in Australia, where a different make of ball, the Kookaburra, will swing reluctantly under blue skies, but the bowler revealed that England's pace attack, under the guidance of their Australian bowling coach David Saker, are already developing the state of mind necessary to win in Australia by routinely preparing for Test cricket on the assumption that the ball will not swing.
"We go into games presuming that the ball will not swing," he said. "Our main aim is to create pressure from both ends and not give them any easy scoring shots. If it swings we can attack more. When it does swing I certainly find it a little bit easier."
Saker, a former Victoria fast bowler, overlooked as a coach in Australia after his retirement, made an immediate impression when England won the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean in May.
Anderson had cut an unhappy figure this summer as he has at times struggled for rhythm and rewards. "It has probably not been my greatest summer so far but I have always felt I was bowling well, even if the figures showed otherwise," he said. "It wasn't as if I was coming into this game low on confidence."
His return to form was striking as he produced England's best analysis in Tests since Matthew Hoggardtook 12 for 205 against South Africa in Johannesburg in January 2005. Anderson's Test average, with a wicket every 32.52 runs, is now lower than at any point since the end of his debut season.
He was helped by exceptional England close catching, with Paul Collingwood particularly impressive today, holding two rapid chances as Pakistan, 15 for three overnight, resisted for only another 22 overs, Anderson taking five of the wickets to fall. "I thought the close catchers were brilliant," he said. "When the catches did carry they were often going pretty quick."
England's crushing victory had immediate reverberations for Pakistan. Appeals by their young captain, Salman Butt, for Pakistan's selectors to keep faith with his young side were already too late as Mohammad Yousuf, who retired from Test cricket in March in the aftermath of a rancorous tour of Australia, agreed to rejoin the squad. Pakistan's former chief selector Abdul Qadir has condemned Yousuf's behaviour as "blackmail".
The second victim of Trent Bridge is Danish Kaneria, the leg-spinner, who returns to Essex. He has been replaced by the left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, only 18 years old and with only two first‑class matches behind him.
Butt insisted Pakistan could bounce back in the second Test, which begins at Edgbaston on Friday. "Everybody is having problems against the swinging ball, not only my team," he said. "We bowled out Australia for 88 and if we held catches against England they would have only scored 150 or 200. I know my young side have the ability. They need to be given time to show what they are made of. These guys pulled off a victory against Australia for the first time in 15 years. These are the guys for the future."