Anderson's mind on the job

James Anderson insists he has much more to offer with the ball © Getty Images

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James Anderson is striving to master the mental side of the game he believes can help him become the best bowler in the world.

The England paceman has, by his own admission, struggled for consistency during his career, most recently in the 2-1 series win over New Zealand when he was outstanding in Wellington but out of sorts in Napier.

Having taken nine wickets for Lancashire in the LV County Championship match against Durham last week, Anderson has begun the 2008 summer impressively and is hoping to keep his place for the first npower Test against the Black Caps at Lord’s, which starts on Thursday.

As well as physical preparation, however, Anderson has been addressing the mental side of the game in a bid for greater consistency.

“It has been something that has probably hampered my progress in the last couple of years,” he said.

“It is still quite hard for me to understand how I can go from a Test like Wellington to a Test like Napier in the space of a few days.

“But it is something I have been working on with the coaches - to try to figure out what it is that happened, to try to put in consistent performances.

“Some days it just comes from my first over and on others it doesn’t come straight away, so I have got to work harder to find that rhythm.

“I have been trying to work out whether it is because I have been trying too hard to find that rhythm.

“I have to find a way if the rhythm does not come I have to find something to help me not panic, rather than tensing up and struggling to find it.”

Anderson’s five-wicket haul in Wellington, which set up England’s victory, was reminiscent of his form in his halcyon first year in an England shirt.

“I was not thinking of a great deal. The ball was obviously swinging, the pitch was helping, I felt comfortable, I was enjoying it and I wasn’t really thinking about anything,” he said of that display.

Anderson has been working towards improving his consistency © Getty Images

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“When the rhythm didn’t come as quickly in Napier maybe I was trying a bit too hard to find it, fighting myself, and that is when I lose the consistency.”

A remodelling of his action and subsequent stress fracture of the back, which sidelined him for the entire 2006 international summer, stymied his progress towards his career goals.

“I’ve always been quite a serious character,” added Anderson, who grew out the blond flashes in his hair long ago.

“This is my job. I want to be the best I can be at what I do and I feel like I have got the talent and ability to be in the top 10 in the world in both forms of the game.

“I have not shown anything near that at this moment in time. I have been around the team for four or five years now so it is about time I started putting in the performances.”

Anderson is now back to the bustling, head-down approach in delivery which proved so successful when he burst on to the scene on the Ashes tour of 2002-03, having enjoyed less success after being advised to change his action by the then England bowling coack Troy Cooley.

“It’s a difficult one because Troy is probably the best bowling coach I have worked with and he is probably the best bowling coach in the world at the moment,” Anderson said.

“But when I think back - especially now I have almost gone full circle with my action - then maybe changing my action wasn’t the best thing to do during that period.

“Everything that Troy did was for the better of the bowlers that he worked with, whether it was to prevent injury or make their actions more economical.

“My action now is more comfortable, I generate more pace with it and I am swinging the ball, which I did lose for a bit.

“I have watched videos of Shaun Pollock in his pomp, when he bowled quick, and his head went down.”