Anderson: searching for consistency

I was very happy with the way I played at Lord's. Old Trafford was a bit up and down for me. I had a couple of good spells and a couple of dodgy ones.

James Anderson
Quotes of the week

Watch the third Test from Trent Bridge live on Sky Sports from Thursday

Related links

Teams

• England

Players

• James Anderson

Also see

• Play Fantasy Cricket
• Sky Sports experts
• Live scores

James Anderson is confident England can seal a 2-0 series victory by winning the final Test against New Zealand, which starts at Trent Bridge on June 5.

The Lancashire fast bowler is England's equal leading wicket-taker in the series with 10 and is hopeful of adding to that tally in Nottingham.

Anderson is also aware he could be in for a hostile reception from New Zealand's bowlers after his bouncer felled Daniel Flynn during the second Test.

Flynn, who was struck in the mouth by a delivery that went straight through his helmet grille on the first day, played no further part in the Test and required extensive dental surgery.

"I expect I'll probably get a few shorts balls from the New Zealand bowlers after what happened at Old Trafford," Anderson told PA Sport on Monday.

Evasive action

"Certainly it's something I'll be working on in the nets with the bat - so I'll be ready to take evasive action or maybe even play some shots - if they decide to bounce me.

"Although what happened in the second Test won't stop me using the bouncer again at Trent Bridge on Thursday and overall I am reasonably pleased with my bowling performances in the series so far.

"I was very happy with the way I played at Lord's. Old Trafford was a bit up and down for me. I had a couple of good spells and a couple of dodgy ones.

"But all in all I'm pleased with the way I am bowling and the way the ball is coming out of my hand."

Unchanged squad

England have named an unchanged 12-man squad for Trent Bridge and look set to retain the same starting XI for the fifth consecutive Test.

"We've had a couple of days off to freshen up and relax so I'm sure the rest of the lads like me will feel ready to take on the challenge of Test cricket again on Thursday," added Anderson.

"Confidence-wise we're going to take a lot from that win at Old Trafford and build on that during the week at nets and in the time we've got together to prepare us in the right way.

"We won't be underestimating New Zealand that's for sure - we know how good they are and even though they lost a few players after we toured there we knew the guys stepping up would be more than capable.

"We know they are a good side that are capable of winning Test matches and I am sure they will push us hard to level the series.

"It was a great win for us at Old Trafford and we've had to scrap really hard to get that win - we showed great team spirit to fight back.

"Hopefully if we stick to what we do well we'll be able to wrap up the series at Trent Bridge with a win and finish 2-0 up overall."