NOTTINGHAM, May 30: James Anderson and Graeme Swann have been compared to Australia greats Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne by England’s Aussie bowling coach David Saker.

McGrath and Warne were the outstanding seam and spin bowlers of their generation, with leg-spinner Warne widely regarded as being worthy of a place among cricket’s greatest players.

Yet Saker insists the way in which paceman Anderson and off-spinner Swann bowl in tandem is reminiscent of the celebrated McGrath/Warne combination even though the England duo, who currently have 455 Test wickets between them, are unlikely to match the combined tally of 1,271 the Australians bowed out with when they retired in 2007.

However, there is no denying the work of attack leader Anderson and Swann, usually the lone specialist spinner, in England’s rise to No 1 in the world Test rankings — a position cemented with a nine-wicket, series-clinching, win over the West Indies at Trent Bridge here on Monday.

But Saker, a former Victoria and Tasmania seamer who never played Test cricket for Australia, insisted: “When Jimmy and Swann bowl together it is not unlike McGrath and Warnie at times. McGrath and Warne in tandem were amazing but I have seen some spells from Jimmy and Swanny that have been just as good or better at times.

“In Sri Lanka [earlier this year] there were a couple of times, especially late on day four in the second Test, when those two reminded me so much of McGrath and Warne. They put so much pressure on the Sri Lankan batting group and the wickets fell.

“McGrath was the stand-out in that group but they had Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Andy Bichel...they were all fantastic bowlers.

“This group [which also includes Stuard Broad and Tim Brsenan] is very skilful too. What they do really well is assess conditions quickly.

They will see if it is swinging and, if so, they will stick to our original plans.

“If it is not doing that, they will come up with some other plan.”—AFP