Jimmy Anderson has insisted that England bowled well despite enduring a "frustrating" second day in their third Test against Pakistan.
Anderson dismissed Mohammad Hafeez for a duck with just the fourth ball of the day at Edgbaston, but the bowlers didn't take another wicket until the very last delivery, which saw Azhar Ali caught by Alastair Cook to bring an end to his knock of 139.
A Sami Aslam run-out was all that England had to celebrate in between as Pakistan ended on 257-3, just 40 runs behind the hosts, and Anderson admitted that it was a testing day having clashed with the umpires on a number of occasions.
"I've always had a bit of an issue with running on the wicket, I know I'm tight, so there was frustration there. I probably got a little bit out of order at one point with the umpires; I've apologised to both of them for my behaviour. But that's just the way I play the game, I'm competitive, I want to try and get wickets and when the day is a frustrating one like this, it can get a little bit frustrating," he told Sky Sports News.
"I'd rather have that little bit of competitiveness, I think it's helped me in the past, but I also want to play within the spirit of the game. I know I was out of order with the way I behaved at that point. With us not making 300 in the first innings, we knew that we had to try and make breakthroughs today which we didn't quite do.
"I thought the pitch seemed to be a little bit slower than yesterday. I thought we bowled pretty well, we kept them under three an over for most of the day. A couple of chances went down, which is frustrating, but you get days like this in Test cricket. All credit to those two guys at the top of the order for them, they played very well."
The series is currently tied at 1-1 after England cancelled out Pakistan's triumph at Lord's with victory at Old Trafford.
Barney Corkhill
