Former England batsman Paul Collingwood heaped rich praise on veteran pacers James Anderson,38, and Stuart Broad, 34, and said that he was confident of the duo playing a starring role for them in the upcoming Ashes series.
The veteran pacemen, England's two most successful Test bowlers of all time with over 1,000 wickets between them, have found themselves playing a secondary role during the team's ongoing tour program in Asia which has largely taken place on spin-friendly pitches.
India will be traveling to England for five Tests later this year, and then England will travel to Australia for the Ashes series and Collingwood feels Anderson and Broad will be the key to England’s success down under.
"We have a lot of cricket before then, but the way they are bowling at this moment in time, I'd be very surprised if they weren't. I think we always resort to 'are they too old?'. To me, when you have two bowlers who tick all the boxes and physically seem to be getting younger, it would be mad to overlook these guys,” England assistant coach Collingwood told the press.
"Whenever there are doubts about their age, they seem to put them to bed with their performances on the pitch. As long as they are still performing, they are going to be at the top of the tree when it comes to being selected. Sometimes, you have to pinch yourself how skillful they are,” he added.
(AFP inputs)
