Jimmy Anderson has been told his hopes of an Ashes return now hinge on proving his fitness in a match situation after England officially ruled him out of the second Test at Lord’s next week.
Anderson pulled up lame after just four overs of bowling proved catastrophic to Joe Root’s side at Edgbaston, with Steve Smith feasting on a resulting four-man attack for centuries in both innings that propelled Australia to a 251-run win.
Stuart Broad revealed his strike partner was “distraught” at letting his teammates down while Root tried to describe the injury as a “freak” after the Test given Anderson had passed the fitness tests and the decision to select the 37‑year‑old was “unanimous”.
England, however, remained vague over the severity of this apparent recurrence when announcing on Tuesday that Anderson would miss the Lord’s Test next week. A statement referred only to a “calf injury” following a second scan and said Anderson’s return would be assessed on a rolling basis.
Despite the injury prompting fears that Anderson’s record-breaking England career could be coming to a close, the player himself is privately upbeat about his prospects of a return. But his word alone will not be enough second time around.
That said, the options for demonstrating fitness are limited by a domestic schedule that is awash with Twenty20 cricket. Lancashire face Glamorgan in a County Championship game at Colwyn Bay from 18 August – a fixture in which Anderson could theoretically play for the first two days before linking up with England for the third Test at Headingley that starts on 22 August.
If that scenario is deemed to be too rushed, further options include a three-day second XI match between Lancashire and Leicestershire in Liverpool that starts on 20 August, or even Derbyshire’s tour match against the Australians from 29 August were a loan deal to be arranged.
Being 1-0 down and with a number of question marks over the team, England must put thoughts of Anderson to one side as they try to level the series at the scene of their World Cup final triumph last month; Jofra Archer demonstrating his fitness after a side issue with 12 overs for Sussex 2nd XI on Tuesday is at least one plus.
Trevor Bayliss confirmed Jack Leach, Somerset’s left-arm spinner, would enter the thoughts of the selectors when they finalise their squad at the end of the week, with Moeen Ali’s match figures of 42 overs, three for 172 a source of concern.
The head coach said: “Everyone is a confidence player but I think with Mo it is very much like that. He puts together one good spell we know he can pick up three or four very quickly. He’s got to try not to put too much pressure on himself and go out and enjoy it.”
Despite losing the bowler most likely to exploit a seaming pitch, Bayliss is still hoping that Lord’s has more live grass than was witnessed at Edgbaston; after day one it became tougher as the pace dropped out of the surface.
This summer’s bespoke Duke ball is not swinging like the 2017 and 2018 editions it was supposed to replicate. But Bayliss believes seam movement – aided by greater vegetation – could be the key to removing the in-form Smith early on in his innings.
Bayliss, who has previously worked with Smith in Australia, said: “We passed the bat 17 times in the first innings – if he nicks one of those we are all saying well bowled.
“All world-class batters play and miss a little bit, but the best players take advantage of that little bit of luck. If he’s not the best player in the world he’s certainly very close to it.”