Andy Wilson/theguardian.com


Jimmy Anderson will make his comeback after England’s Ashes embarrassment on Lancashire’s pre-season trip to Dubai later this month and recognises the need to prove that he still merits a place in a reshaped national set-up.
Anderson has not played since the 5-0 whitewash was confirmed in Sydney in early January, the decision already having been taken that he would not play in the one-day matches that followed, and he has therefore spent the last two months at home in Cheshire as the departures of Andy Flower and Kevin Pietersen have been confirmed to follow the retirement of Graeme Swann.
Speaking at the launch of a Lancashire development programme at Old Trafford, he was much more discreet than Matt Prior had been in Dubai last week about the implications of Pietersen’s exit.
“There’s a new coach, there will be different personnel so I should imagine it will be a different feel in the dressing room,” he said.  “My job is just to make sure I’m in that dressing room at the start of the year.
“I’m sure everyone has been hurting as much as I was after that series defeat and really want to show people that’s not the real us. It was a huge wake-up call. From an individual point of view all I can focus on is trying to do my best for Lancashire and take as many wickets as I can at the start of the season so I can prove I’m worthy of a place in that England team.”
Anderson, who expects to be available for Lancashire’s first four or five Championship games starting against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on 6 April, confirmed he had played for much of the Ashes series with a cracked rib sustained when batting against Peter Siddle.
“It wasn’t a huge issue really,” he added.
“There’s not a lot you can do with ribs. [There was] a little crack in one of them but it’s not like you can put them in plaster or anything like that. The pain wasn’t enough to stop me bowling, the medical team were well aware of it and gave me the all clear to play.
“I’ve had a few weeks off and been back in with the lads at Lancashire for a few weeks now, just trying to get my fitness up to speed. I started bowling this week so I’m looking forward to the season now.”
Anderson has a good relationship at Lancashire with Peter Moores, who has been tipped as the most likely alternative to Ashley Giles to succeed Flower as the England coach.
But Swann, his old dressing room ally who now seems to be relishing his move into the media, has given unequivocal backing to Giles.
“Gilo is the man to lead the England team forward,” Swann told the BBC on Tuesday from the Caribbean, where he has been working as a summariser for Test Match Special.
“He did a cracking job during the Champions Trophy [last summer, when England reached the final]. People seem to have forgotten that and seem to just tally him with the one-day series in Australia [when England were thrashed].
“He’s a very good coach who had a sublime record at Warwickshire. He knows the system. He was brought in by Andy Flower to take over that one-day role and I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t carry on.”
— Guardian News Service