England fast bowler James Anderson, who hasn’t played a Test since sustaining a calf strain during the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in August this year, is expected to return for his team’s upcoming tour of South Africa.
Anderson was forced off the field after bowling only four overs during the Ashes opener. The 37-year-old was also sidelined for the two New Zealand Tests, the first of which will be played in Mount Maunganui from 22 November.
After having trained at Manchester City’s home ground, the Etihad stadium, last month in a bid to recover, Anderson will now be heading for the training camp in Potchefstroom, and if cleared, will feature in the first of the four Tests – the Boxing Day game in Centurion.
“Jimmy is going out to Potchefstroom,” Ashley Giles, the managing director of England’s men’s cricket, told the BBC. “We’re hopeful. We think he is on track, which is great. The medical team are happy. The older you get, these things linger longer. We felt no point forcing it for this short tour.
“It will be interesting to see the pitches we play on in South Africa. I think they’ll be green, and they’ll go for a bowler war and take us on. It’s not something I’d take on with Jofra Archer and Jimmy Anderson, but it will be an exciting series.”
Mark Wood, Olly Stone and Jamie Overton will be the other bowlers to take part in the camp, which will be under the supervision of Jonathan Trott, Glen Chapple, Neil Killeen and, subject to finalising a deal as bowling consultant, Darren Gough.
England had triumphed 2-1 in the Tests when they last toured South Africa, in 2015-16, and it remains one of their only two overseas wins in the last 11 away series. While they’ve excelled as a white-ball unit in the period, Giles laid special emphasis on maintaining the right balance across formats and marked the away Ashes win in Australia as a long-term goal, something they haven’t done since the 2010-11 triumph under Andrew Strauss.
