England confront grim reality of life without Anderson
Bowler misses Lord’s but targets Old Trafford ‘In my head I was fit to play in the opening Test’
England will learn what a future without James Anderson looks like next week when they play Australia at Lord’s.
Anderson has played a Lord’s Test every year since 2007 but it was confirmed yesterday he would not be fit to face Australia from next Wednesday and no date was put on his return. England are not divulging the extent of the injury to his right calf, but concern is mounting that, at 37, they might have seen the last of their greatest-ever bowler.
Anderson will be desperate to be back in time to play the fourth Test at his beloved Old Trafford, which starts on Sept 4. “I certainly have no intention of giving up,” he says in his column in The Sun today.
But having made a major error at Edgbaston, when England let him play even though he had not proved his fitness in a match, Anderson will have to bowl for Lancashire before being considered. His word that he is fit, which was deemed good enough at Edgbaston, will not be sufficient this time.
Losing him after four overs cost England the game and Joe Root, the captain, was being overly protective of those who made the decision when he said it was just a “freak” that he suffered a relapse. Anderson is a forceful personality, and his opinion on his own fitness would have carried a lot of weight, more than that of cautious medical staff who clashed with him in the past over a mysterious shoulder injury that took years to diagnose. “I’d done all the training and correct rehab going into the match,” Anderson explains in his Sun column. “In my head, I was fit to play an Ashes Test. I’ve played in Test matches before after injury without first playing a county game or warm-up of some sort.”
England were desperate to believe him as well. The four overs he bowled in Birmingham were a masterclass and Australia opener Cameron Bancroft had no idea which way the ball was moving.
Those 24 balls showed that a fit Anderson could be the difference between England winning and losing, which is why they have to ensure they are still in the series when he can be considered for selection again.
The county schedule works against Anderson. Lancashire’s next championship match, against Glamorgan, starts on Aug 18 and finishes the day before the third Test at Headingley. Two second XI friendlies late in the month offer opportunities for a game and he could play for Derbyshire on loan against Australia on Aug 29, but he would not want to face the tourists in an effort to prove his fitness.
Anderson has defied age by improving in recent seasons. Since 2013, when he averaged 31, he has had five outstanding years. It leaves Root contemplating how to beat Australia without the man who has taken 103 wickets at Lord’s and who has been so important to their success at home in recent years. Without him, Root has to look to Chris Woakes and hope he can defy exhaustion from the World Cup.
Stuart Broad’s place is now safe, but can he summon one more match-winning spell? If the pitch is low and slow like it has been for previous Lord’s Tests and the World Cup final, England will be in trouble. It was obvious at Edgbaston they need grassy pitches with lateral movement to compete and then hope their batsmen can scramble enough runs.
Jofra Archer’s return for Sussex second XI yesterday was encouraging and he will play at Lord’s barring any breakdown and Sam Curran’s left-arm swing offers a point of difference. Root wanted a genuine pace bowler in his side, having seen the way Mark Wood changed February’s Test in St Lucia with one spell. But when Archer was injured Root went against his instincts and turned to the old guard of Anderson, Broad and Woakes. England felt it was too early to pick Olly Stone but, without any genuine pace, their attack was one-dimensional.
Woakes also needs careful managing. He did not bowl on the fourth morning as Australia stretched their lead, with England conscious of the number of overs he had bowled during the World Cup, in the one-off Test with Ireland and in Australia’s first innings. Woakes has a chronic right knee injury. His record at Lord’s is outstanding, and Root needs him to put his body on the line to help level the series. With Wood out for the summer because of side and knee injuries, there is little back-up beyond those on duty next week, a sharp contrast to Australia, who have been able to hold back Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and rotate their bowlers.
Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, said: “Woody’s injured at the moment, but some of those guys are very close to selection, and that’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“I would have liked to have seen a bit more live green grass on the wicket to get the ball to move sideways, whether it’s swing or seam. I think we saw in the first innings it did move sideways a bit and we had them in trouble eight down.”