Ashes 2021-22: James Anderson urges England players to block outside noise and focus on cricket

The marquee Ashes series is finally set to go ahead after the England Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed their participation with a full-strength squad after Cricket Australia (CA) significantly reduced COVID-19 protocols for the series. Things were not quite the same a few weeks before as several England players had raised concerns about playing the series under stringent curbs. England cricket captain Joe Root was one of the players who was uncertain about his participation. Reacting to Root's uncertainty, Australian Test captain Tim Paine had stated that the Ashes series will go ahead with or without Joe Root.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon had also stated that if he was in the place of the England players, he would have gone ahead with the series. England pacer James Anderson has now reacted to the comments. He urged the players to block the outside noise and focus on their preparations for the series.

"It is dangerous to start talking like that, especially when we already have one player missing because he is looking after his mental health. I get it that this is an Ashes series and we are going to have this bit of pantomime stuff away from the cricket, but let's keep it respectable. It is important everyone knows what to expect when we get there. There is always a lot of hype and noise around the Ashes in the build-up to it. Making everyone aware of that and having ways of blocking it out are important,” Anderson told the UK's Daily Telegraph as reported by Fox Cricket.

“It is designed to distract us. There are always little things that crop up. That is inevitable but it is important we try to focus as much as we can on cricket. That is our job. Our job is not really to get involved in any off-field war of words. We have to focus on our jobs on the field and perform for our country,” Anderson added.

The Ashes gets underway on December 8 in Brisbane.