With All-important Ashes 2023 set to begin in a month, England are already sweating on the number injury to their key players including their skipper Ben Stokes and star pacer Jofra Archer. The latest one to join the list of injuries, is their veteran pacer, James Anderson who picked up a groin strain while playing in the County Championship for Lancashire.
The 40-year-old picked up the injury while bowling on the opening day of Lancashire’s clash against Somerset and he didn’t take the field over the final three days of the contest as the match ended in a draw on Sunday.
England Cricket Board issued a statement regarding the status of their star pacer’s injury as he has a mild strain in his right groin and said that his fitness will be assessed before taking the call on his participation in the one-off test against Ireland starting on June 1 in the Lord’s Cricket Ground.
“Lancashire and England seamer James Anderson has sustained a mild strain to his right groin during Lancashire’s LV= Insurance County Championship Division One match against Somerset at Emirates Old Trafford,” ECB said in the statement.
“Anderson suffered the injury on day one on Thursday whilst bowling and stayed off the field for the remainder of the match, which ended in a draw today.
“His fitness will be assessed nearer the time of the LV= Insurance Test match against Ireland, which takes place at Lord’s starting on Thursday 1 June 2023.”
Earlier during the New Zealand series, England Veteran Fast Bowling duo Stuart Broad and James Anderson became the second bowling pair to take 1000 wickets together in Test cricket and were excepted to play an important role for England in the Ashes 2023.
England team has suffered with a stint of injuries to their star players as Jofra Archer continues recovering from elbow surgery and the speedster missed 17 months of action before making his comeback to international cricket in January.
Ben Stokes is also nursing a chronic knee problem that has restricted his bowling and according to various reports, Olly Stone will reportedly be unavailable for at least the first Ashes Test after suffering a hamstring injury. It will interesting to see the kind of team England fields against Australia in the 1st test in Edgbaston.
Meanwhile, the ECB has opted to rest their pace trio of Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, and Chris Woakes from this week’s County Championship fixtures to manage their workloads ahead of the Big Test Summer in India.
The England team was not at its usual best when they toured Australia where England was hammered by Australia by 4-0 and will to do well in their home soil this time. The most exciting Ashes this year is scheduled to begin on June 16, with the first Test to be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham.