Jimmy and Broad to sit out first two county ties

JAMES ANDERSON and Stuart Broad will sit out the opening two rounds of the County Championship in preparation for the international summer. Plans for the pair to feature in some but not all their counties’ fixtures between now and the Lord’s Test against New Zealand on June 2 mean that Anderson will miss Lancashire’s home matches with Sussex and Northants, and Notts’ Broad is not available for the visits of Durham and Warwickshire to Trent Bridge. Anderson, 38, is scheduled to make his 2021 bow alongside Aussie Jackson Bird in the away fixture at Kent on April 22. Broad, 34, should appear for Notts for the first time against Worcestershire at New Road on the same day. In contrast, Test captain Joe Root is playing for Yorkshire in the first two matches, starting with Glamorgan’s trip to Leeds next Thursday. ENGLISH cricket is trying to agree on a ‘gamewide approach’ to show solidarity with the fight against racism in time for the new season. The ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association have been in talks about a suitable gesture, with one source saying that taking a knee has not been ruled out — despite the decision by the England team halfway through last summer’s international programme to dispense with the act. Both the ECB and the PCA understand the need for what Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart yesterday called a ‘uniform approach’, and it is hoped an agreement will be in place by the start of the first round of County Championship matches next Thursday.