Pakistan v England: James Anderson says tourists may have to be ‘creative’

Pace bowler James Anderson says England may have to be “creative” in order to win the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Two of those have been draws – the match against Australia in March saw only 14 wickets fall.

Anderson told BBC Sport: “We’ve got a captain and coach that don’t want draws. We’re not playing for draws.”

Captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have urged England to play with aggression since taking charge at the beginning of the summer.

The approach yielded six wins in seven matches but will now be challenged in the contrasting conditions of Pakistan, where England are set to play their first Test for 17 years.

“We don’t know how it’s going to play. Traditionally it is flat,” said 40-year-old Anderson.

“We’ll come out and try to win the game – we might have to be creative in how we do that.”

England halted tours to Pakistan after gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009, only returning in September for a T20 series that the visitors won 4-3.

In the intervening years, Pakistan have hosted in England in the United Arab Emirates. Across two series, England have lost five Tests, drawn one and won none.

Anderson, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, is the only member of the current squad that was part of the tour to Pakistan in 2005, but admitted there is little knowledge he can pass on to his team-mates.

“It’s great to be back,” he said. “Seventeen years is a long time. It would be wrong if I said ‘the pitch is going to play like this, or this is what to expect’.

“It’s a completely different team we’re playing against, completely different conditions. It’s about adapting when we get out there.”

Tests in Pakistan are usually attritional affairs, far removed from the all-action nature of England’s summer – the entire 2-1 series victory against South Africa included only nine days of play.

When Australia defeated Pakistan 1-0 here earlier this year, they did so in the final session of the fifth day of the third Test, after the first two matches were drawn.

McCullum said on Monday his side are happy to risk losing in order to win.

Anderson said: “There will be times when we have to soak up pressure. We get that.

“But there will be times when we have to put pressure back on the opposition and the skill we’re trying to develop is when to do that.

“With the ball we’re trying to take wickets. The captain and coach have made that quite clear – every time you run in to bowl it’s about taking wickets. It’s not about controlling the run-rate, it’s about how we’re going to get 20 wickets.”