James Anderson will make his 10th appearance at the Adelaide Oval, probably his last one, as England face Australia in the second Ashes Test. The pacer said that he is hoping to make the match memorable for the right reasons. 

It was in 2003 that a 20-year-old James Anderson stepped on what he describes as his ‘favourite ground outside the UK’ for the first time. He is now 166 Test matches and 632 wickets old. 

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“There’s probably been more crushing defeats than good times, but I think it’s my favourite ground outside the UK,” Anderson said on the eve of a match. 

During England’s 2010/11 tour, Anderson removed Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in his first seven balls of the match to guide his side’s win. The 39-year-old claimed his best figures on Australian soil – 5/43 – in a losing cause. 

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“I’ve had some great times here and some bad ones, too. But I have enjoyed every game I’ve played here. We played well in 2006/07 for a few days, then had a bad day to finish, and I remember a one-dayer in 2003 where I had one of my best games in England colours. Now we are hopeful of putting in a good performance to edge it over to more good games here than bad ones,” he continued. 

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England lost the first Test by nine wickets. Both Anderson and Stuart Broad missed the game and set to return to the side. 

“It’s a great ground, steeped in history, and somewhere we love playing. It’s changed since I first played here, but the stuff they’ve done to the ground is fantastic. The atmosphere is great and people love their cricket in Adelaide,” Anderson spoke about how the ground has changed.