James Anderson will play his first cricket match this week since being axed from the England Test side during the winter.
The record-breaking bowler was stood down from Test action for England’s defeat in the West Indies along with Stuart Broad and the duo have been kept on the leash as centrally contracted players ever since. But with the first Test of the summer against New Zealand just six weeks away, Anderson has been made available for Lancashire’s game with Gloucestershire at Emirates Old Trafford on Thursday.
"That first Test is in our minds," said Anderson ahead of his season. "It is trying to find a balance of playing enough but not being overworked before that first Test. I want to be in as good form as possible going into that series."
Saqib Mahmood is set to join him in the side for his first game of the summer since making his Test debut in Barbados and will be thinking along the same lines. Broad is set to wait a further week until the visit of Worcestershire to Trent Bridge on April 28th before getting back to business in readiness for the first Test.
Broad has previously admitted he does not want to play too much before the first Test against New Zealand in June, revealing he has "identified fixtures to play to maximise form, fitness and preparation". He wrote in his Mail on Sunday column: "I do not currently hold an England shirt but if I want to be in the first Test XI of summer 2022 — and I desperately do — the last thing I want is to be heading to Lord's to take on New Zealand on June 2, seven Championship matches deep with the potential for carrying a niggle or feeling tired and heavy legs.
"Four back-to-back Test matches to start England's home summer — three against New Zealand plus the rearranged one against India — will require every ounce of fitness and so I'm trying to make sure I am in peak condition for June. If I started on April 7 and played solidly for eight weeks, I would not be, and so I have identified fixtures to play to maximise form, fitness and preparation."
Ollie Robinson was also expected to be back playing again by now, but he has been laid low with a non-Covid illness that has left him bed ridden this week. With his back fully recovered from the spasm that kept him out of action in the Caribbean, it is hoped that he will be fit enough to play next week against Durham at Hove.
Only Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, of the fast bowlers remain unavailable as they continue to recover from their heavy workloads and in Wood’s case elbow surgery.
