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Anderson fitness a doubt
Cricket, 11:37, December 13, 2009 ,
Andrew Strauss admitted there are still injury worries surrounding James Anderson ahead of the first Test with South Africa.
The Lancastrian has been struggling with a knee problem but returned to take 1-58 in the final warm-up match against a South African Invitational XI on Saturday.
The match was drawn as the South Africans were dismissed for 263 in reply to England's first-innings of 317 when time ran out but, having reduced the hosts to 76-5, the tourists' bowlers failed to finish the job as the seventh-wicket pair of Charl Pietersen (64) David Wiese (80) added 119 to frustrate Strauss's side.
Ryan Sidebottom put himself in contention for a first-Test place with 5-42, but it is the fitness of England's main strike bowler, Anderson, which will be the subject of most debate when the selectors meet to determine the make-up of the side to face Graeme Smith's men in Centurion next week.
Strauss admitted that England will have to play a waiting game before deciding whether or not to include Anderson in the starting XI.
"I'm not overly concerned," he said. "But when you pick a bowler you want him to be as close to 100% fit as possible - because in these conditions, you're going to be asking quite a lot of your fast bowlers.
"I don't think you can be totally sure how Jimmy feels until we see how his knee settles down after this game.
"But I thought he looked pretty good today and in his third spell, he didn't seem like he had any ill-effects from his first couple."
And the captain was pleased with the way Sidebottom combined all his skills to take five wickets in East London.
"It was very encouraging to see the way Ryan bowled," he added. "I was very impressed with him. The ball hit the gloves hard; he swung it, reverse-swung it at the end - and he's always pretty accurate.
"It's a pretty good combination when he's got all that going."