The veteran England pacer James Anderson has been called to the playing XI for the ongoing fourth Ashes 2023 Test at Old Trafford in Manchester. Notably, Anderson was omitted from the playing XI of the third Test at Headingley in Leeds. Although management has given him a call-up in the final eleven for the penultimate Test at his home ground in Manchester.
Meanwhile, the modern-day bowling great struggled for a wicket on the first day of the Manchester Test. But he compensated for this by scalping the wicket of Aussie skipper Pat Cummins on the very first ball of the second day of the match.
England skipper Ben Stokes' catch off James Anderson is also making rounds on social media. The England Cricket Board posted this video from their official Twitter handle.
Here’s the video:
First ball... WICKET!😱
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 20, 2023
Jimmy Anderson strikes with his very first delivery of the day 👏 #EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/OL5l0ll6pj
England's bowling brilliance restricts Australia to 317 in the first innings
Speaking of the current action of the match at Old Trafford, England have started their batting in the first innings after bundling up Australia on the score of 317 runs in the first innings. At the time of filling this copy, the Three Lions have scored 6 runs for no loss in 1.3 overs. Openers Zak Crawley is currently there in the middle on the individual score of 6 runs alongside his opening partner Ben Duckett who is yet to get off the mark.
Earlier in the first innings, the star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and number three batter, Marnus Labuschagne played the knocks of 51 runs each for Australia. Other than these two, former skipper Steve Smith and middle order batter Travis Head contributed with the knocks of 41 and 48 runs respectively.
On the back of these knocks, the visitors managed to post a total of 317 runs before getting bundled up on the very first ball of the second day.
Chris Woakes scalped a five-wicket haul for the hosts; he picked 5 wickets by conceding 62 runs in 22.2 overs. Other than him, the veteran pacer Stuart Broad also claimed two wickets alongside one wicket each by James Anderson, Mark Wood, and Moeen Ali.