Durham (England), Sept. 19: England pace bowler James Anderson believes his time on the sidelines during the one-day series against Australia can help him to stop Ricky Ponting’s team claiming a seventh successive victory on Sunday.

Anderson was rested for the fourth and fifth matches of the seven-game series after a hectic schedule which has seen some players contest two Test and one-day series and the World Twenty20. Anderson and England head to South Africa for the Champions Trophy next week as the tight cricketing calendar continues but first up is one final one-day international at Durham on Sunday.

Victory for Australia would make England the first team to lose a one-day series 7-0 and Anderson believes the short rest has left him ready to lead the fightback.

Four wickets and a run-out in the 111-run defeat at Trent Bridge on Thursday suggest the break did him good.

"It can be quite monotonous when you’re just practising, playing, practising, playing all the time, and having a rest broke that up," Anderson said. Anderson, meanwhile, has called for his teammates to treat Sunday’s game as a one-off warm-up for the Champions Trophy rather than focus on recent results.

"Obviously we don’t want to lose 7-0. There’ll be a lot of pride to play for on Sunday. We’re very disappointed with the way we’ve played in this series, we’ve never really clicked as a team," he said. — AFP