Jimmy Anderson will make his competitive return for Lancashire on Saturday as he looks to prove his fitness to the England selectors before the second Test with Pakistan at Old Trafford, which starts on Friday.
The 33-year-old was disappointed to be left out of the opening Test at Lord’s, believing himself to have recovered from a slight stress fracture to his right shoulder that was detected during a scan for a minor muscle strain after the series win over Sri Lanka last month.
The England captain, Alastair Cook, and the coach, Trevor Bayliss, one of four selectors, had wanted Anderson to play in the first Test on the basis a senior player knows his own fitness best but were overruled by the remaining three men on the panel, James Whitaker, Mick Newell and Angus Fraser, on the back of medical advice.
Anderson will play for Lancashire in their Division One match against Durham at Southport and will be available for either the first two days or two innings, depending on which comes later. Ben Stokes is free to play and bowl during the whole match for Durham as he looks to gain confidence in his left knee following surgery at the end of May.
England have issued Durham with instructions on how many overs Stokes can bowl in each session, knowing how keen the all-rounder will be to prove his own fitness for the second Test. Should the 25-year-old emerge unscathed, the selectors could face a similar scenario to the Anderson decision.
The West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell will face a preliminary hearing before an independent anti-doping disciplinary panel on Wednesday over a whereabouts rule violation. The 28-year-old, who helped West Indies win their second World T20 title in India in April, missed three doping tests within a 12-month period. Russell has not been provisionally suspended but faces a two-year ban if found guilty.
The violation was confirmed by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission in March. Since then, as well as playing for West Indies, Russell starred for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and featured for Notts Outlaws in the T20 Blast. He is now playing for Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League.
World Anti-Doping Agency rules state athletes must inform their local anti-doping agency where they will be for at least one hour each day to facilitate drug tests. If an athlete misses three doping checks within a 12-month period it counts as a positive test.
