Anderson included in England’s touring squad

England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson has been included in England’s Test squad for the forthcoming four-Test series against SA later in December.

The 37-year-old swing bowle,r who is England’s top wicket-taker with 575 wickets from 149 Tests‚ has been out of international action since the first Ashes Test against Australia in Birmingham with a calf injury that saw him miss the rest of the series.

He also missed the recent 10 series against New Zealand‚ but he was in a training camp in Potchefstroom along with fast bowler Mark Wood and wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow.

National selector Ed Smith said it made sense for them to pick a big squad when they had players who had recovered from injury.

“With James Anderson and Mark Wood returning to the squad‚ Saqib Mahmood is the unfortunate player to miss out.

“It is not predicted that Wood will be available for selection for the earliest matches‚” Smith said.

“However‚ he will travel with the team and continue his rehab work with the medical staff on tour.

“There is no exact date given for his return‚ but the medical team is working towards him becoming fully available for selection during the tour.”

Bairstow was dropped from the Test team to work on his red ball game‚ but he was missed when Jos Buttler pulled up lame and had to be replaced by Ollie Pope‚ who is also in the squad.

Off-spinner Moeen Ali also hasn’t made the 17-man squad to be captained by Joe Root.

England will begin their tour on December 17 with matches against a Cricket SA XI and SA “A” in Benoni before the series’s first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Boxing Day. —