Quotes from James Anderson

Alastair Cook is one of my best pals.

A coach can help only so much. Out on the field you need a partner.

I love talking about the game and passing on knowledge if I can but being a coach full time is another story.

This game's a lot easier early on in your career because people haven't seen you play. Things got a lot harder when people saw what I did with the ball and began to think about how to bat against me.

A bully waits until they are in the ascendancy to pounce on people.

The first time Stuart Broad walked into the dressing room, with his flowing blond hair, striking blue eyes and perfect figure, I thought: 'My God, she's beautiful.'

I don't actually have a regular end I bowl from at Old Trafford.

It is scary when bowling how hard batsmen hit it now.

The time to think about personal achievement is at the end of your career.

The pink ball is a bit different. I don't think it moves as much through the air.

I remember my first meeting with Alastair Cook clearly. The entire Lancashire side, some of them pretty mild-mannered, really laid into him. He'd just scored a double-hundred for Essex against Australia in a warm-up match before the 2005 Ashes. For some reason, we all assumed he must be really arrogant.

I've played in Test matches before after injury without first playing a county game or warm-up of some sort.

Dealing with sledging is an individual thing. For me, I am not going to take abuse from David Warner or anyone else and not have a word back. But it is down to the person.

I don't agree with the theory that removing grass and pace from the pitch nullifies Mitchell Johnson.

Nasser Hussain was skipper when I first played for England and a massive influence. He showed me a lot of faith.

An inswinger - that gets an lbw or bowled - after a few outswingers is always very pleasing.

From an England point of view they have put money into white-ball cricket because our performances in World Cups has not been good enough, I understand the reasons for that. But we have to be careful not to go too one-day, we have to find a balance because there is such a legacy of Test cricket in this country and we can't lose that.

I'm a very competitive person and maybe I'd taken things a bit too far at times.

I regard sledging, chirping, whatever you want to call it, as one of the weapons at my disposal.

You can get suckered into believing you have to always be attacking with the bat, ball or fielding positions. But Test cricket is not always like that. There are times when it is a bit slow paced and even a bit boring.

When you're a kid, you dream about playing cricket for a living, playing for your county and then your country.

Cricket often leaves you scratching your head.

Growing up, my education about Test cricket came from dad's video of the 1981 Ashes series - and Ian Botham's incredible match at Headingley.

It is easy to get carried away in this Twenty20 era and think Test cricket has to be entertaining all the time.