ANDERSON’S ASHES FIVE-FOR

JAMES ANDERSON has been backed to extend his career by up to a year thanks to the enforced break, increasing his chances of a remarkable fifth Ashes tour. Stuart Broad, as Anderson’s new-ball partner for more than

a decade, knows more than most what the 37-year-old ‘magician’ is capable of. The most successful fast bowler in Test history with 584 scalps would be 39 by the time England head to Australia

next year and recent calf and shoulder injuries suggested it might be a tour too far.

But Broad said: “I hope there’s more to come. Neither of us have had many breaks over the past few years. This

has been 10 weeks without bowling and we don’t know how our bodies will react. It could give us another year.

“Our bodies have got over any niggles that we were carrying and we’ve freshened up, which could extend both of our careers.

“Because of workload issues with a jammed schedule, I don’t know how much I will play with Jimmy this summer, but hopefully we can get together and bowl a lot more in the future because the last time I saw him and bowled with him was in Cape Town.

“He walked off with five-for in the first innings and I was walking behind him with those amazing stands and the mountain in the background thinking ‘this bloke is a magician’.”

Anderson has vowed to keep playing until both his body and mind tell him it is time to walk away.

The ECB have confirmed there will be no domestic professional cricket played this summer until August 1 at the earliest.