James Anderson has pinpointed what needs to change in English cricket following another Ashes humiliation down under.
The 39-year-old looked as formidable as he's ever been during the third test in Melbourne, taking 4-33 in 23 overs during Australia's first innings in a mercurial display of swing bowling.
His victims included openers Marcus Harris and David Warner, as well as key man Steve Smith, and reopened the debate as to why England's record wicket-taker didn't feature in the first Test in Brisbane.
However, his efforts were in vain as a first innings deficit of 82 proved too much for the tourists to even make Australia bat again, collapsing to a humiliating 68 all out in their innings to ensure defeat by lunchtime on the third day.
Having also been soundly beaten at The Gabba and then Adelaide, the result ended any faint hopes England had of regaining the urn this winter, with the hosts now 3-0 up with matches in Sydney and Hobart to play.
Anderson was part of the side that famously won 3-1 in Australia under Andrew Strauss in 2010/11, but since then 5-0 and 4-0 defeats have followed in 2013/14 and 2017/18 respectively, and a whitewash looks on the cards this time around.
Much of the mediocrity at Test match level, with England also suffering series defeats to India and New Zealand this year, has been attributed to prioritising the shorter form of the game, and Anderson says it's time to redress the balance.
“What I will say is, I think that there has been a big push with white ball cricket since the 2015 World Cup,” he told The Guardian .
“So I just would like to think that maybe balance between red and white-ball cricket is there, going forward. At the minute, it’s tipped slightly towards white-ball. And it has been for the last few years.
“If you look at our performances in Test cricket over the last few years, they’ve been pretty inconsistent. So, from that point of view we can hopefully just redress that balance a little bit.”
Anderson, whose career tally of 639 Test wickets is only bettered by Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, said authorities also needed to review the standard of county cricket surfaces, saying the strive to produce results meant "the wickets aren’t as good as they used to be."
