James Anderson injury rattles England on Ashes eve
The English team were dealt a severe blow on the eve of the Ashes series as their opening bowler James Anderson suffered a rib injury.
The swing bowler, who was in outstanding form during the English summer especially against Pakistan, suffered the injury during the boot camp that was held in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Germany-c2904 to prepare the team for the rigours Down Under.
The boot camp that was an idea of team consultant John Buchannan, who arranged a similar camp when he was in charge of the Australians before the last Ashes series, played in Australia four years ago.
The English media criticised the team management for hastily arranging the camp after the team had gone through a rigorous and extremely controversial series against Pakistan.
The media felt that the players needed to be reunited with their families rather than spending time in Germany and indulging in other sporting activities that could throw in an injury concern or two.
A source of the English team revealed that Anderson was suffering from a cracked rib, yet the management is hopeful that he would be available for the series down under.
"Anderson is continuing his training programme ahead of the Ashes tour and will fly out to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 with England's Test squad on October 29", the ECB said. "It is anticipated that he will be fit and available for selection for the first Test match against
Australia in Brisbane".
Anderson had an amazing run against Pakistan, he gave a man of the match performance in the opening Test of the series at Trent Bridge Nottingham and concluded the four Test series with a rich haul of 23 wickets at a mere 13 runs per wicket.
Anderson is the linchpin of the English attack and is the only pace man, who has the genuine ability of swinging the new as well as the old ball, the rest of the pacers in the team are all similar with their hit the wicket hard approach.
The Ashes commences with the first Test match of five starting in Brisbane on the 25th of next month. The conditions there help bowlers, who can extract bounce from a good length as the wicket has a reputation of being the second fastest wicket
in the country after the WACA in Perth.
On the other hand the beleaguered Aussies cannot wait to finish their miserable tour of India where they endured their first clean sweep in a Test match series since 1982.
The Aussies have three ODIs to play in India. However, regular Captain, Ricky Ponting, and all-rounder, Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326, have already pulled out of the series.
Their Ashes preparations have been far from ideal as besides the series loss to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the second match of the two match series in England earlier in the year.
There have been calls for replacement of Ricky Ponting with Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 at the helm. However, Ponting remains determined claiming that his real target is the Ashes.
He reminded his detractors that the last contest between England and Australia Down Under ended in a 5-0 win for the hosts, hence it was England that has to do all the running in the series.
He added that his team’s recent run of losses would not have any reflection on the Ashes series as the contest itself had its own history and significance, which was greater than any other cricketing contest.
The five matches in the series would be held at the traditional Ashes venues of Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
The Test matches would be followed by a seven match ODI series.
Tags: