? Injury is classified as the least serious category
? Graham Onions is a possible replacement
Jimmy Anderson's next delivery for England could be as distant as the first Test against India at Lord's in late July after a scan confirmed he had suffered a side strain in the opening Test of the series against Sri Lanka here.
Anderson's injury has been classified as "a grade 1 strain", the least serious category, but even such a strain normally takes two to three weeks to heal and England are not about to take excessive risks ahead of the India series with the health of a fast bowler standing third in the ICC Test rankings and the inspirational figure in the attack.
Anderson's absence invites the possibility of a recall to Test cricket at Lord's next week for Durham's fast bowler Graham Onions six weeks into his heartwarming return this season from a serious back injury that had threatened to end his career.
Onions, who made his England debut on the same ground against West Indies two years ago, is named in Durham's 13-strong squad for their top-of-the-table championship match against Lancashire at The Riverside, which begins on Sunday, but if he starts the match (and the England and Wales Cricket Board had not requested his release by the close of the third day) it is by no means certain he will be allowed to finish it.
Other contenders to replace Anderson are also in championship action: Ajmal Shahzad for Yorkshire against Sussex at Hove and Jade Dernbach, who is thought to be more likely to break into the one-day squad, for Surrey in their Division Two fixture against Derbyshire. Along with Onions, both played in England Lions's defeat against Sri Lanka in Derby.
Steve Finn, the Middlesex quick, who was left out of England's XI here, was put through his paces by the bowling coach, David Saker, on the outfield during breaks in play , but England are unlikely to opt for three hit-the-pitch pace bowlers and will surely aim to replace Anderson's swing bowling with a player of similar quality.
That Anderson will miss the second Test at Lord's is inevitable and the final match of the Sri Lanka series at the Rose Bowl, beginning on 16 June, looks a little close for comfort, especially if England happen to have a lead in the series.
They would not need too much temptation to treat Anderson lightly until the arrival of Duncan Fletcher's India for a series that, as much as South Africa might contend otherwise, will be viewed as a contest between the two leading Test nations in the world. Anderson is by no means certain to figure in England's one-day series against Sri Lanka after a disappointing World Cup and that might be a boon for his county, Lancashire, who to everybody's surprise go into the match against Durham with a three-point lead and a game in hand at the top of Division One.
England have resigned themselves to the loss of Tim Bresnan for the Sri Lanka Test series after he broke down in his sole championship outing for Yorkshire with a recurrence of a calf injury that forced him out of the one-day series in Australia.
Anderson, who came of age in the Ashes series in Australia last winter and who, at 28, is approaching his peak as a fast bowler, was England's most impressive bowler on the first two days as Sri Lanka edged towards 400 in a rain-disrupted first Test on a dreary pitch that has provided hard-to-digest fare for a crowd experiencing its second taste of Test cricket.
His side strain two days and 28 overs into the international summer was a reminder of the demands placed on England's fast bowlers in a four-strong attack, in which the fifth bowler, Jonathan Trott, is a token addition for the occasions that the off-spinner Graeme Swann cannot bear the bulk of the workload.
If Anderson's appearance as a nightwatchman in England's first innings on the second evening looked slightly chancy, his continuation of his innings the following morning after his side strain had been diagnosed seemed an unnecessary risk. As it turned out, he had little opportunity to do himself further damage, dismissed in the third over of the morning by the Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis without adding to his overnight single.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/28/jimmy-anderson-england-first-test
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