England will be without Jimmy Anderson as well as Stuart Broad when they head to Sri Lanka this month for a seven-match ODI series – causing further disruption to preparations for next year’s World Cup.
After the squad gathered for a three-day training camp in Loughborough on Tuesday, England announced Anderson has been withdrawn as a precaution, to continue his rehabilitation on a pre-existing injury to his left knee. He was said to have experienced some discomfort during the summer, although it did not stop him playing in all seven Tests and even a County Championship match for Lancashire in September.
England say Anderson, like Broad, who had an operation on his right knee in September, remains on course to be fit for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand early next year. Steven Finn will lead the attack and there are no plans at this stage for Anderson to be replaced.
Anderson will undergo a graded return to bowling programme over the next two months, which will include a spell in South Africa with the other seven fast bowlers who have been selected for the England Performance Programme in Potchefstroom – and will be working with Ottis Gibson, the former West Indies coach who is to return to the England setup.
Assuming all goes well, he would then return to the squad with Broad for a Tri-Series in Australia in January which also involves India, giving both the opportunity to prove their fitness for the World Cup.
Anderson’s absence from Sri Lanka will leave Finn as comfortably the most experienced of England’s five specialist seamers, although the Middlesex player is still in the early stages of his comeback after his personal nightmare in Australia last winter.
Chris Jordan, Harry Gurney, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes are the other surviving members of the quintet, with spin likely to be a more important factor in Sri Lanka than at the World Cup.
England ODI squad to tour Sri Lanka
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcs), Ian Bell (Warks), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Jos Buttler (Lancs), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Harry Gurney (Notts), Alex Hales (Notts), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorks), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Notts), James Tredwell (Kent), Chris Woakes (Warks).
