James Anderson sustains an injury while playing Roses clash against Yorkshire

Leading wicket taker in the longest format of the game for England, James Anderson had to leave the field during the first morning of the Roses match between Lancashire and Yorkshire at the Old Trafford due to a suspected groin injury. The 34-year-old fast bowler pulled up in his run up in the mid of the 6th over. He got up with difficulty and left the field with a lot of pain.

During his brief stay in the field, Anderson had made an impact by taking an impressive catch at the slips to dismiss Adam Lyth and also removed Alex Lees with the ball in hand as Yorkshire lost two early wickets which pegged them back. England’s next assignment in the longest format is in England when they meet the Proteas in a Test series starting from 6th July.

Anderson was a part of the English squad which lost to India by a 0-4 margin and the experienced fast bowler had a torrid time bagging 4 wickets in 3 matches at an unimpressive average of more than 52. He was literally left clueless in front of the star-studded Indian batting line-up and ended up going wicketless on three occasions.

Anderson has a pretty good limited overs record as well

Despite his drop in form Anderson remains one of the greatest English fast bowlers till date and with 417 Test wickets to his name, he sits at top of the ladder just ahead of Sir Ian Botham. A pacer known for his exceptional abilities to swing the ball both ways, Anderson has always been a vital cog in England’s bowling line-up and has tormented star-studding batting line-ups with his immaculate line and length, pace and swing, He is a combination of everything which makes life that more difficult for the batsman facing him.

Though he is not in the scheme of things in the shorter versions of the game currently, he has been an impressive limited-overs bowler. In 194 ODI’s Anderson has bagged 269 wickets at an average of 29 and an economy rate of fewer than 5 runs per over which is pretty considering today’s generation. He has also bagged 18 wickets in 19 T20I’s with an average of 30 and an economy rate of fewer than 8 runs per over.