James Anderson expects to be fit to bowl in the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl. The 28-year-old seamer, the leader of England’s attack in their victorious Ashes campaign in Australia, missed the drawn second Test of this three-match series at Lord’s with a side strain.
But, with England looking to press home the 1-0 advantage gained from an innings win in the series opener in Cardiff, Anderson said Tuesday he felt fine ahead of Thursday’s start to what will be the first Test ever staged at the Rose Bowl, the home of southern county Hampshire. “I came down yesterday (Monday) and had a bit of a bowl and felt fine after that, but the next couple of days are pretty important to get through,” Anderson said.
England had wanted Anderson to prove his fitness by playing for Lancashire in a county Twenty20 match on Sunday, hours after they named him in a 12-man squad in place of the uncapped Jade Dernbach, called in as cover at Lord’s. But rain meant the match was washed-out without a ball bowled. Anderson though was confident his fitness would hold up.
“I’ve felt fine for a couple of weeks now — I felt fine before the Lord’s Test. It would have been a risk to play in that game and I’ve had plenty of time to recover, get stronger, do a lot of bowling, so I’m feeling pretty comfortable.” In Anderson’s absence, England’s 6ft 4in plus pace trio of Chris Tremlett, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn struggled for accuracy at Lord’s.
England’s attack lacked the variety that Anderson, a noted swing exponent, might have provided but he himself was unsure if he could have made that much of a difference on a typically good surface. “It was a very flat pitch. Conditions didn’t really look like they were going to help the ball swing. “I thought the guys did a good job in the end. It was a tough pitch but we stuck at our task and we’ll be looking to put in a better performance this week.” Anderson, provided his fitness isn’t an issue, seems certain to be recalled this week with Finn looking like the man who will have to make way even though he took four for 108 in 33 overs in Sri Lanka’s first innings at Lord’s compared to Broad’s one for 125 in 32.
“It’s good that the selectors are going to have a tough decision,” said Anderson. “They have a tough decision quite a lot of the time and that shows the strength we’ve got in the squad, and the strength of the guys that can’t even make it into the squad.”
Anderson fit and ready for Rose Bowl
