- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
‘My body has not let me down’ – Anderson
- Updated: October 4, 2016
James Anderson insists he will be fit to play a role in England’s Test tour of India next month, even though he is unlikely to start bowling again for another three weeks as he continues his recovery from a long-term shoulder injury.
Speaking at Lord’s ahead of the NatWest OSCAs, Anderson admitted his frustration at missing out on the Bangladesh leg of England’s campaign, following a stress fracture of his left shoulder blade that caused him to miss the first Test against Pakistan in July.
However, he took umbrage at the suggestion that – at the age of 34 and with 463 Test wickets to his name in a 14-year England career – his body is beginning to struggle with the intensity of his international workload.
“I feel fine,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a frustrating injury where everything feels good, the rest of my body feels great, but as soon as I try to bowl I’ve got a bit of pain there. It’s something that’s going to take a few more weeks to rest and recover. I’ve got another scan in three weeks to see if it’s healed enough for me to start bowling.
“I’m not going to miss the entire trip, no,” he said. “I’m very confident I’m going to be involved in the India series, it is a frustrating injury, something I want to get right, but it does happen in cricket, in sport, you get injured, you’ve just got to deal with it, and hopefully I can get as fit as possible as soon as possible.”
Despite Anderson’s optimism, the timescale is a concern, with England facing five Tests against India in the space of six weeks, starting in Rajkot on November 9, one week after the conclusion of the Bangladesh tour.
Anderson has not bowled in a competitive fixture since the fourth Test against Pakistan at The Oval in August, and with no warm-up games scheduled for the early weeks of the India leg, there will be scant opportunity for him to regain his match fitness ahead of one of the toughest assignments in Test cricket.
What is more, having not missed an England Test through injury since the Sri Lanka series in 2011 (at Edgbaston in 2012, he was rested alongside Stuart Broad for a dead-rubber against West Indies) Anderson has now had to sit out four of England’s last 16 Tests – two against Australia in the 2015 Ashes, and one each against South Africa and Pakistan.
His situation is such that Andrew Strauss, the …
