Friday 23 March 2018 10:25, UK
James Anderson has claimed the balls being used in England’s first Test against New Zealand are "not round" and feels the umpires know they are out of shape.
England bowled just 23.1 overs on day two after play was abandoned due to rain with Anderson getting the only wicket, that of Kane Williamson, whose 102 helped New Zealand to a lead of 171.
But Anderson was more frustrated with the ball than the weather with England taking the second new ball an over after the restart.
He told Sky Sports News: "It's hard to swing a ball that's not round, that's why we've been trying to get it changed.
"The umpires have got the silver hoop things that if the ball goes through then they're happy with it.
"Even the second new ball we got was out of shape - it went through the rings and even Paul Reiffel [umpire] said 'Yes, it's not round but it's gone through the rings' so he can't change it.
"The umpires know the shape's not great."
England are facing an uphill struggle to save the first Test after they were embarrassingly bowled out for 58 on the first day.
Anderson's final wicket partnership of 31 with Craig Overton helped England to avoid their lowest ever Test total.
The 35-year-old said: "It happened in a blur really [the collapse] and I think that's part of the problem because it was just once you get on a bad roll like that, it can escalate and that's what it did for us.
"It's something as a batting group where I'm sure there's already been chats in the dressing room and there will be further chats throughout this series to how we stop this happening again and how we can perform better and counter some fantastic bowling from the opposition, which you're going to come up against in international cricket.
"That's down to us as a team, using the coaches and the footage, to find out how we do that."
However, Anderson was not as unhappy at the weather which saw just 139 balls bowled and New Zealand add 54 runs to their total on the second day, with more rain predicted for Saturday's play.
"It was a mixed day for us," he said. "We knew we had to make use of the second new ball and try and make in-roads into their batting line-up after a bad day yesterday.
"Frustrations I guess with the rain because that new ball was only 10 overs old so we thought we were getting somewhere with it and making progress but I guess in the situation of the game the rain's not the worst thing in the world for us."
