James Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, on Friday (December 24), said that the bowlers can't be blamed entirely for the massive defeat in the second Test of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 against Australia at the Adelaide Oval earlier this week.

Notably, England was also bowled out for 147 and 297 in the first Test of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 at the Gabba. The tourists yet again failed to fire up with the bat, bowled out for 236 and 192 in the second Ashes Test, whereas Australia managed 473 and 230 runs at Adelaide Oval and eventually suffered a 275-run loss in Adelaide to trail 2-0 in the five-match Test series.

His comments came after England captain Joe Root criticized his bowling attack by saying that the bowlers should have bowled a fuller length in the pink-ball Test against Australia in Adelaide.

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The veteran pacer seemed unhappy with Root’s comments, saying that England's batters didn’t do well while insisting that the bowlers tried their best in the second Ashes Test against Australia.

Anderson wrote in his column for the Telegraph ahead of the Boxing Day Test at MCG: “We did not bat well enough on a pitch where the data said it was one of the flattest Adelaide surfaces ever produced and the pink ball did the least it has ever done in a day-night game.”

The pacer further explained, “From a bowlers’ point of view you want to be hitting the right lengths all the time. We did our best on the first two days to do that … Maybe we could have gone a touch fuller at times but we still created quite a few chances that were not taken.”

He concluded, “We have to be better at assessing it during a game. We can’t just go after the game, ‘we should have bowled fuller’… We have to be a bit more proactive at that too as a whole group.”

(With Reuters Inputs)