Anderson sure of fitness

Last Updated: June 15, 2011 7:22am

England bowler James Anderson is confident he will be fit to play in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl.

The 28-year-old paceman is set to return to the side on Thursday after missing the second Test at Lord's with a side strain.

He has not seen competitive action since picking up his injury in Cardiff, but has spent a lot of time in the nets with Lancashire before travelling down to the Rose Bowl.

"I did come down yesterday (Monday) and had a bit of a bowl in the nets - I felt fine after that. The next couple of days are going to be pretty important to get through," Anderson told Sky Sports News HD.

He added: "I've felt fine for a couple of weeks now, I felt fine before the Lord's Test but obviously it would have been a risk to play in that game.

"I've had plenty of time to recover from that and get stronger, do a lot of bowling up at Lancashire, so I'm feeling pretty confident."

England are 1-0 up in the series after a remarkable finish saw them win the first Test in Cardiff, while the second match petered out into a draw.

Only a defeat in Hampshire will prevent them from taking an overall series victory, but Anderson says the bowling attack will have to work hard in order to end on a winning note.

"It's been a tough series so far. Obviously there was that fantastic innings at Cardiff - the second innings there that helped us win the game," Anderson said.

"It's going to be hard for us to get 20 wickets here, especially if it's going to be as flat as it looks."
James Anderson on the Rose Bowl Quotes of the week

"But Sri Lanka batted fantastically well in the last game and it's going to be hard for us to get 20 wickets here, especially if it's going to be as flat as it looks.

"It's going to be a hard job for us, but something that we've come up against in the past and we're going to have to cope with again."

Steven Finn is the most likely candidate to make way for the return of Anderson, who is glad that the selectors are having to deal with a surplus of quality.

Anderson added: "It's good that the selectors are going to have a tough decision, I think they have a tough decision quite a lot of the time.

"That shows the strength that we've got in the squad and the strength of the guys that can't even make it into the squad at the moment."

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