There is nothing funny about having catches dropped off your bowling, or getting hit all around the park.
The touring side has had two difficult days and the strain was beginning to show on Anderson, who bowled reasonably, particularly with the second new ball.
He has four for 108 and on a surface not offering the bowlers much in the way of assistance.
England might have bowled better on day three but when the opposition is 402 for seven with a lead of 235, tempers will fray.
Anderson had the odd tantrum, kicking the ball away and celebrating vigorously when he did have some success.
''It's probably more a bit of frustration boiling up from yesterday and throughout today,'' he said.
''I thought we bowled better and had chances go down. We had nicks going through the slips, so we could have had more rewards for how we bowled today.
''So I think it was a mixture of where we are in the game and how we bowled.
''We tried to focus on staying patient because it can be difficult as a bowling group when you are behind the eight ball as we are in this game.
''You can try and chase it too much - and get a bit greedy at times and try and take wickets instead of trying to just hang in there and wait for them to make a mistake.''
Anderson did retain some humour, suggesting if he could score 20-odd on it, it must be a pretty good deck.
''We can't dwell too much on our first innings. We now have to think about taking three wickets and batting much better in the second innings.''
