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London - England fast bowler James Anderson is not yet fit for the Test series in India, but the selectors have refused to rule him out, hoping he'll be ready in time.
There have been calls for Anderson to be removed from the
squad and replaced with another spinner, given conditions, but chief selector
James Whitaker is having none of it.
He told Cricinfo that they were holding out till the last
moment for Anderson to be ready: "We've picked our squad and we stand by
that.
"If someone is injured or becomes unwell, we can look
at making changes but these are the players we believe are best equipped for
the job.
"James Anderson continues to make his comeback from
injury at Loughborough and we will assess his fitness before deciding what his
involvement on the tour will be."
Meanwhile, the rest of the side will have a few days of rest
in the wake of their drawn series against Bangladesh, with coach Trevor Bayliss
saying the players need a break.
They fly to India on Wednesday, and Bayliss said: "The
boys have been training very hard since we've been here (in Bangladesh).
"It's been a fairly hectic two or three weeks, so I
think part of it will be mental and physical rest so that we're fresh going
into those matches.
"It's not all about practice, practice, practice, even though that's what people might think we need to do.
"But when the guys practice we want to practice properly and get our confidence for those matches."
The first Test starts on 9 November in Rajkot.
