England to save duo for Ashes

JAMES ANDERSON and Ollie Robinson will miss this week’s Test with Ireland – to save them for an all-out assault on Australia in the Ashes.

But it means both skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon Mccullum will have a chance to look at England’s strength in depth.

Skipper Stokes is set to play this week as a batter only, while Mark Wood is another essential pacebowling asset for the Ashes who will be wrapped up in cotton wool ahead of the First Test with Australia at Edgbaston on June 16.

Stokes will have Stuart Broad, Matt Potts and Chris Woakes as the likely pacebowling options on Thursday at Lord’s in the one-off Test before he turns to the Ashes and a full squad to choose from.

“Jimmy (top) and Ollie (inset) won’t be fit for this one against Ireland,” said Mccullum. “We’ll just have to monitor it over this next little bit, but we’ve got some great options.

“When I first took over this job, people said there wasn’t much depth in English cricket and I disagree completely.

“There is an immense amount of depth and we’ve got plenty of good options throughout the squad which will be needed to call upon throughout the summer.

“This might be one of those occasions. Whoever gets the opportunity in a couple of days, I’ll be very confident they’ll do a job.”

Mccullum clearly also has lots of confidence in Stokes’ management of his injury issues with his crocked left knee set to keep his bowling restricted this summer.

A largely restful period in the IPL means he is in the best physical condition he could be at the start of such a busy period – but England no longer have a player who can ignore his body’s reactions.