James Anderson to train at Manchester City's Etihad Campus in a bid to recover from injury

England paceman James Anderson will train at Manchester City’s Etihad Campus to recover from a calf injury. Jimmy picked up the injury in July while representing Lancashire and that consequently ruled him out of the majority of the Ashes campaign. He could only bowl four overs in the first Ashes Test when the injury resurfaced and ruled him out of the next four Tests.

Anderson has been ruled out of the 15-member squad to tour New Zealand for a two-Test series and has his eyes fixed on the Test tour of South Africa. The four-match series starts on Boxing Day at Centurion.

The England team’s strength and conditioning coach Rob Ahmun will be supervising Anderson’s two month recovery time. The 149-Test veteran will have access to the facilities at the Etihad Campus as informed by an ECB spokesman.

"[Anderson] will be hoping to use the world-class facilities at the Etihad Campus with the England Cricket sports science team over the next two months, leading into the South Africa tour, which starts in December.”

The 37-year old has taken a staggering 575 wickets at a phenomenal average of 26.94. He has 27 five-wicket and three ten-wicket hauls. He made his debut way back in 2003 against Zimbabwe at Lord’s. Anderson is the leading wicket-taker in the pace bowling department and stands fourth in the all-time list of top wicket-takers in Test match cricket, only 44 wickets behind Indian leg-spinner and former captain and coach Anil Kumble.

Interestingly, Anderson is seeking inspiration from Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, who went on to play till the age of 40. Anderson supports Arsenal and Burnley in the English Premier League but idolizing a United star while practising in their arc-rivals den won’t go down well with a certain section of fans.

"It has been absolutely devastating to miss the Ashes series, but I have not thought for one second about retiring," Anderson said. "In fact, I'm going to look into how Ryan Giggs was able to play football at the highest level until he was 40. That's what I'd like to do."

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule