Former England spinner Monty Panesar praised James Anderson, who on Tuesday became the first pacer in history of red-ball cricket to take 600 wickets, as he termed the 38-year-old as the ‘best fast bowler ever’.
Speaking at SportsTiger’s show Cricket Talks, the Englishman said, “James Anderson has been brilliant. He has stayed injury free and has always been hungry to take wickets. With this attitude he is the best fast bowler ever now.”
He further added, “England team would be thinking now how long they can keep him playing. He has a brilliant record in English conditions and he is averaging around just 21since the age of 36.”
In the series against India in January 2021, Panesar feels it will be a difficult choice whom to drop from the team once Ben Stokes returns. He said, “England likes to play all-rounder in that position and I can see both Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes playing. Probably, it will be James Anderson or Stuart Broad who might be dropped considering the conditions.”
While talking about England’s tour to the subcontinent Panesar further added, “The English team might need a specialist spinner.”
He backed Adil Rashid for making a comeback into the team and commented, “Adil Rashid is a good player. If he was playing in this series instead of Dom Bess England would have won the series against Pakistan 2-0.”
On Joe Root’s captaincy he said, “Joe Root is a good captain but his greatness will only be decided when England travels to Australia for the Ashes. If they win ‘The Ashes’ then one would say he is a great captain but if they don’t win I wouldn’t put him in the category of great captains.”