James Anderson fears he may not be the bowler he was before the incident with Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge last year.
Anderson was charged with a Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct after India alleged that he pushed Jadeja inside the pavilion as the players left the field for the lunch break on the second day of the first Investec Test.
While the charges against both players were later dismissed, Anderson feels the sense of being monitored by the ICC has left him a more inhibited bowler lacking the aggression that was a key element in his game.
In particular, Anderson felt the issue compromised his effectiveness in the World Cup, where he cut an oddly peripheral figure claiming just five wickets in six matches.
“I’ve definitely been different since that incident,” Anderson said. “And it probably affected me during the World Cup.
“It didn’t affect me during that India series because there was still that real determination to win; I was aggressive without being over the top.
“But in the World Cup, there was a constant sense that the ICC were watching.
“So we saw that great spell from Wahab Riaz to Shane Watson (in Adelaide) and they were fined after that. It puts you off.”
Anderson has been England’s most effective bowler over much of the last seven years and goes into the Test series against West Indies starting on Monday requiring just four more wickets to overhaul Sir Ian Botham’s England record tally of 383 Test wickets. The game will also be Anderson’s 100th Test.
But while his reputation as a highly skilled bowler is unquestioned, Anderson has also developed a reputation as one of the fiercest sledgers in the game. His words have often been hidden from television spectators by judicious use of an arm held over his mouth while his comments are directed at batsmen, but opposition players have long named him as an unusually abrasive competitor. At one stage during the Jadeja episode, BCCI officials suggested they were taking a stand against Anderson for the good of the game.
Anderson, however, insists he needs the edge provided by the overt aggression and hopes to rediscover it in the Caribbean; albeit while staying “within the spirit of the game.”
“What comes naturally to me is being aggressive,” he said. “And I think that’s worked for me in the past.
“Obviously you have to stay within the boundaries and within the spirit of the game. But I think it did affect me during the World Cup.
“Hopefully it won’t here. It’s about trying to find a balance.”
Wahab and Watson were fined after the match in Adelaide, though the ICC have clarified that the incident actually occurred after the initial spell that captured the imagination of viewers around the world.
