James Anderson backs England despite Stokes injury

James Anderson, who made his way back into the England fold for the second Test match has attested England’s chances of claiming a victory in the upcoming Test match at Edgbaston in spite of the injury to Ben Stokes. Stokes is set to undergo an MRI scan shortly and will be in rehabilitation for his damaged knee for at least a few weeks.

Anderson stated that the Old Trafford Test match was an important one when it came to squaring the series following the defeat at Lords. “(It was) really positive the way we came out of that Old Trafford Test, unfortunate that we lost Ben Stokes in that game to injury but, all in all, just a really strong team performance,” Anderson told reporters in Birmingham on Monday.

“He’s a big loss, he just adds that balance to the team,” added Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker.

“He can come in at six and him being able to bowl plenty of overs does add that healthy balance to the side.

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However, Anderson also added that the players have coped without Stokes previously and stated that he was indeed confident that they could do it again. “But we’ve played without him before and coped without him before so we’re going to have to do that this week. Hopefully, he’ll be well on the road to recovery and play at The Oval (the venue for the fourth Test).”

“The batsmen talked about, before the game, showing the character they’ve got and what they are made of and their skills, which they completely did, led by Joe Root and Cooky,” said Anderson.

“(It was) just a really strong performance and something that we can hopefully build on in the coming weeks.”

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