ANDERSON’S RETURN IS PUT ON HOLD
After shoulder and ankle jabs...
JIMMy ANDERSON could be short of match practice going into the first Te s t against Pakistan at Lord’s after having injections in his shoulder and ankle.
The 35-year- old remains a vital part of an England attack that failed to take 20 wickets in any of their seven winter Tests in Australia and New Zealand. He had been hoping to return to action for Lancashire in next week’s county championship match against Somerset at old Trafford.
But the importance of patching up an ageing body could now delay his reappearance until May 11, against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, in the final round of four- day matches before the Lord’s Test gets under way 13 days later.
Despite his age, Anderson has been comfortably the pick of England’s bowlers over the last year or more, home and away. Since the start of 2017, he has 64 Test wickets (at an average of only 19), 22 more than his nearest rival, Stuart Broad.
But with England desperate to regain the Ashes next summer, the need to wrap Anderson in cotton wool is more important than ever. Meanwhile, it has emerged that one of the reasons West Ham’s London Stadium will not be used for the 2019 cricket World cup is because of the setting sun.
England’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan and EcB director of England cricket Andrew Strauss visited the venue in a bid to road-test its suitability for international cricket. But an east-west alignment of the pitch would have been impractical because of the sun’s glare.
other logistical issues — such as the need to cover up the stadium’s two giant screens and building a new media centre — militated against a north- south alignment. That led tournament organisers to conclude reluctantly that they had to ditch the idea.
The World cup, which starts on May 30 next year, will take place at 11 venues across England and Wales, with the tournament opener — England v South Africa — at The oval and the final at Lord’s on July 14. If all 800,000 tickets are sold, it could net the EcB £40million before costs.