Jimmy Anderson gets his tour off to a good start but predicts a tight Ashes series between England and Australia

Anderson made the old Kookaburra ball talk against a Western Australia XI at the WACA, picking up four wickets in his second and third spells even if some of his team-mates struggled

Jimmy Anderson was unsurprisingly England's most influential man (Getty)

James Anderson is predicting a tight Ashes series after he got his tour off to a positive start with a four-wicket haul in the drawn two-day warm-up match against a Western Australia XI at the WACA.

Anderson made the old Kookaburra ball talk, extracting reverse swing to pick up four wickets in his second and third spells as he picked up four for 27 from his 13 overs.

The rest of England’s attack wasn’t quite as efficient, with Anderson’s fellow new-ball bowler Stuart Broad toiling for much of the day as he conceded 64 runs from 13 overs before picking up a late wicket on a second and final day that saw the WA XI finish on 342 for 10 – the hosts continuing to bat after losing their final wicket with their score on 338.

However, Anderson is predicting a close Ashes series even if Steve Smith’s hosts are strong favourites heading into the first Test in Brisbane on November 23.

“I think on paper it looks very even at the moment, but it all depends on which team deals with the pressure best in that first Test match,” he said.

“We’re going to make sure that the next couple of weeks we prepare well enough so that when we come to Brisbane we’re ready to go.”

On England’s bowling performance, Anderson added: “I think you could probably see from the first session we were rusty - that was pretty obvious. We didn’t quite get it right at all.

“We’ve got two more first-class games coming up before the series that we want to be fit for, and get those cobwebs out.

“I didn’t have much rhythm first up. It didn’t feel great, and there wasn’t much swing either with the new ball.

“But then I thought I got better as the day went on, and most of the bowlers would probably say the same. I thought we gradually got there in the end.

“It’s very different to English lengths here – so you can’t be as full – and I thought they played pretty well, and put pressure on us.

“But once we got into the day, and got our fields right, we bowled pretty well and reverse-swing came into the game later in the afternoon.

“There’s going to be guys that are more rusty than others.

“I thought Broady bowled a really good spell with the [second] new ball, at the back end there – and that spell at 5 or 5.30 in the afternoon can be just as crucial as the ones first thing in the morning.

“So getting used to coming back and bowling those spells is really useful for us.”

England's bowling attack failed to impress (Getty)

Josh Phillipe, 20, was the pick of the home batsmen, scoring 88 from 92 balls from the top of the order as the WA XI made England toil in the first session, with Anderson offering the youngster some choice words early on.

“Jimmy Anderson wasn’t too impressed early doors but I laughed it off because it was great to be out there and it was a great experience,” said Phillips.

“I couldn’t really tell you what he said to me to be honest. It was all in a friendly nature he just wasn’t too impressed when I was getting hold of a few early.”

Anderson said of Phillipe: “He was pretty good. He obviously threw his hands at everything, and on a flat pitch he got away with a lot. But I thought he timed the ball brilliantly.

“I must be losing my memory. I can't really remember what I said to him – if I said anything at all.”