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Anderson ruled out of Ashes, England add another quick

England confirm legendary fast bowler won't feature in the remaining two Tests due to ongoing calf issues

Veteran seamer James Anderson has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes series.

England named a 13-player squad for the fourth Test in Manchester from Wednesday, with out-of-form opener Jason Roy selected despite averaging 9.50 in the series.

Anderson felt pain in his troublesome right calf during Lancashire's second XI clash against Durham on Thursday and after medical assessment by both his club and England, the right-armer has been made unavailable for the final two Tests.

The 37-year-old, who has taken 575 Test wickets in 149 matches, bowled just four overs on day one of the series opener in Birmingham before leaving the field with right calf pain.

Anderson aggravated the injury while batting at Edgbaston, where England lost by 251 runs.


England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.


Replacing Anderson is Somerset quick Craig Overton, who played two Tests in the 2017-18 Ashes series in Australia and dismissed Steve Smith in the day-night match at the Adelaide Oval for his maiden Test wicket.

The 25-year-old right-armer has taken 32 wickets in eight County Championship matches for Somerset this season. 

Overton's six wickets from 2017-18 Ashes series

The rest of England's squad is unchanged from the group that pulled off the epic win at Headingley last week.

Roy survives despite his lean run with the bat which has yielded just 57 runs in six innings at the top of the order.

Even though England have continued to struggle at the top of the order, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting expected the hosts to stick solid with the side that leveled the Ashes in Leeds.


"I think England will stick with their same batting lineup, to be honest," Ponting said on the latest episode of The Unplayable Podcast.

"They'll show a little bit more faith in Roy. Burns has got that hundred already, I don't think he's going anywhere."

Despite the loss at Headingley, Australia need to win just one of the remaining two Tests, at Old Trafford and The Oval, to retain the Ashes.

In order to do that, Tim Paine's side must blunt the impact of allrounder Ben Stokes, who scored centuries at Lord's and Leeds to haul the hosts back into the series.

Stunning Stokes plays innings of his life … again

But Paine is confident his versatile bowling attack can get on top of the blazing left-hander who has given the Australians plenty of chances to dismiss him but haven't been able to take their opportunities.

"Hold our chances would be a good start," Paine said when asked what Australia can do to stop Stokes.

"We've looked at, I think Nathan Lyon in the last two Tests alone has got him out five or six times had we held our catches or referred our lbws.

"Lyon is still a huge weapon against him, and there's some things we've spoken about with our fast bowlers where we think we can do things a little better than him, but he's a world class player, he puts bowlers under pressure and makes them do things and captains do things that you wouldn't normally do do.

"That's a huge weapon England have got and one we've got to try and contain in the last two Test matches."

Paine pleased with Starc, openers in Derby

The fourth Tests starts at Old Trafford on Wednesday, September 4.

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia won by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: England won by one wicket at Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval