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Whyzat? Aussies refused to have a beer with England after Test defeat
Skipper Alastair Cook extended the bottle of friendship to the Aussies after it had proved a popular post-match wind down against New Zealand
Spirits are high in the England dressing room even if beer and spirits are not flowing between them and the Australians.
Michael Clarke’s team refused the offer of a post-match drink following their first Test defeat in Cardiff.
Skipper Alastair Cook extended the bottle of friendship to the Aussies after it had proved a popular post-match wind down against New Zealand.
But Clarke and Co abstained – although England bowler James Anderson insisted the alcohol-free policy had nothing to do with on-pitch tensions.
He said: “The spirit between the teams during the match was great. I don’t know why the Aussies did not come in and have a beer with us.
“During the New Zealand series we had a beer after each game. We found that enjoyable after a hard Test – it did not matter whether we won or lost.
“There was a different atmosphere against Australia we were totally focused on our skills rather than creating battles between us and their batsmen.
“And generally, if you bat like we did and rack up runs it keeps the opposition quiet no matter who they are.
“I really enjoyed the game – I thought it was played in a great spirit. We had a lot of fun – the bowlers were talking all the time.”
Anderson, who took his England wicket tally to 406 during the 169-run victory, admitted the match could not have gone better.
He said: “We did everything we wanted to do, everything we said we could do.
“We got into trouble a couple of times early on with the bat – two down, three down early – but did everything we said we would and took a positive option.
“Joe Root did what he has been doing fantastically well for a long time and with the ball we just kept asking them questions."
Anderson fears the Aussies will come back hard at Lord’s, a venue where he feels “teams raise their game against us by 10 per cent.”
He added: “We’ve got to be prepared for that. The first Test has been forgotten now – we have to do the same things again and improve where possible.
“Even if Mitchell Starc is forced to miss the second Test through injury, it will not affect us. We will prepare for him to play and all our batsmen have done a lot of work on facing left-arm quick bowling.”
