(left to right) James Anderson, Joe Ruth and Johnny Bairstow sing the national anthem. Photo: Getty Images/Stu Forster
I'll be honest. You want to contribute to a big streak and I can't remember having two such quiet games in a row in at least the last 10 years. I feel like I've always contributed at some stage. But I don't think I'm particularly bad at bowling; I'm just going through a lean stain, which is something you don't want to happen to Ash.
At my age, people have the opportunity to think about my future. I say poor patch, but that's only two games out of 181. But I get it. It's a high-profile series and you get a little more in the spotlight and an easy target is to say he's getting a little better. But the reason why I didn't take wickets is not at my age.
I don't think about the future. The future for me is just thinking about Thursday and starting the next test. It's as far ahead as I'll be looking. I have already said that even when I am doing well, I do not look too far ahead. I'll just try to work as hard as I can until Thursday. If I get approved, I will show the result that the team needs. If not, I will continue to work hard and play the role at some point in the series.
If you look at both games, you'll see that I lost a couple of points early in the bowling game. Cricket is a game in which if you score a couple of wickets with a new ball, your confidence will build up early and the match could be completely different for you. I need a little luck, a little something that will do me good, and everything will change quickly for me. I know that I still have the opportunity to play for this team to win matches and I will continue to work hard to make it to the other side after a quiet couple of games.
When things go wrong for you, everything goes wrong. The two catches I threw were to be taken. Lorde isn't the easiest “seeing” playground, but I expect to pick both.
I'm not going to criticize the field again. So far they have not suited me, but in the past I have found ways to set up gates on level fields. I just don't find this skill at the moment.
James Anderson shakes hands with Mitchell Stark. Photo: Getty Images/Stu Forster
However, when you see the best bowlers in the world throw him into the middle of the field, it's not a very pleasant sight. If you ask all the bowlers at the Lord's show, they'll say they want to try other skills too. I spent 20 years tossing a ball, trying to swing it and move it off the deck, and when you don't succeed, it's frustrating. I just need to keep working on my game, talk to the coaches and see if there's anything else I can do.
Physically, I feel good. It's just an attempt to iron out what's going wrong. Losing 2-0 is not what we want, but as a team we are in a good position. We know we haven't played our best cricket and there is still a lot to be done from us. I feel the camaraderie is still good. Everyone was in the red on Sunday given the circumstances and how close we were, but we were in another great test match.
Watching Ben Stokes play that shot, I don't understand how he didn't get man of the match because it was one of the best innings I've ever seen.
The perplexity of Johnny Bairstow divided opinion. Not that he was trying to steal a run. This is different from a batsman hitting the court while trying to run while yelling lbw, and a fielder throwing stumps. It's also different than when someone kicks the ball out of their crease and the ball goes to the goalkeeper and they try to roll it over the stumps.
Bairstow's foot was over the line, he scratched at the crease and then walked away, to see your partner at the end of the over. I thought it was the end over. And, as Stokes said after the game, “Would you like to win the game this way?” I think we have enough players on our team to say, “I'm not sure about that. It doesn't seem quite right.”
It's fair to say that Bairstow wasn't very pleased. As you might expect, he made his point clear in the locker room. It was a situation made for a player like him. He felt that this could be his day and he didn't want it to end like this, so he was very upset. It might make him a little more determined the next time he goes there. But we don't want to stop there. We must move on.
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