England’s leading fast bowler James Anderson has been ruled out of the remainder of the tour of South Africa due to an injury. Anderson who continued to bowl after sustaining the injury on the final day of the Cape Town Test did not realize what was coming.
He underwent a scan in Cape Town on Wednesday and a left-rib injury was confirmed. Now he will return to England as the injury needs at least six to eight weeks to heal. According to an ECB statement, “Anderson felt tightness and discomfort at the end of the morning session on day five and was only able to bowl eight overs during the day.” Craig Overton, the Somerset seamer is in the team as cover.
Anderson took to the Twitter to express his feelings and wrote, “Frustrating to be missing the rest of this series with a broken rib but hopefully will be healed in a few weeks! Will be supporting the boys from home.”
Anderson could only deliver eight overs on the final day of the recently concluded Test but was as impressive as ever. The highest wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket (fast bowling), James Anderson became the oldest England seamer to claim a five-wicket haul in Test cricket since Freddie Brown in 1951 in the first innings while his overall match figures were 7/63 from 37 overs. Anderson is just 16 wickets away to become the fourth man to claim 600 Test victims.
This is another setback for the senior English player. He had to miss the entire Ashes where he could bowl only four overs followed by a calf injury. He came back after a long rehab and now this is another disappointing development for England.
But the good news is that Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, both of whom were unavailable for the second Test, should be available for the next game in Port Elizabeth scheduled to begin from January 16.