England coach Andy Flower insists he is not overly concerned by James Anderson's persistent knee injury.
England coach confident on seamer's fitness
England coach Andy Flower insists he is not overly concerned by James Anderson's persistent knee injury, but is determined to manage the Lancashire paceman's workload sensibly.
Anderson has been troubled by his right knee for the past two months, but England have so far been unable to pinpoint the exact nature of the problem.
The 27-year-old will sit out England's latest tour match against a South African Invitational XI on Wednesday as a precautionary measure after continuing to report significant pain.
However, Flower remains hopeful the seamer will still be ready to take part in the forthcoming Test series which gets underway in Centurion on December 16.
"There must be something wrong, but nothing comes up on the scans," Flower explained.
"So nothing's going to snap, and it's not cartilage that is going to wear away.
"What we do know is that there is nothing structurally wrong with it.
"So he's not going to damage himself terribly by playing. But what would debilitate him is the pain, if his leg is too sore to perform at 100%."
The tourists plan to play Anderson in the second two-day warm-up contest against the Invitational XI, which gets underway on Friday, and Flower admits if he were to miss that contest as well his participation in the first Test could be in doubt.
Encouraging
"The last set of injections on Saturday have worked significantly better than the first set - so that is encouraging.
"But if he doesn't come through this two-day game well, then that would be a problem for the Test. "We definitely want him to play here."
Ryan Sidebottom - who is still nursing a side-strain - is in a similar situation to Anderson, but Flower is confident both men should be back in action when it matters.
"I think the second game is better timing for Jim - and Sidebottom probably the same," Flower continued.
"I think they're both experienced enough to be able to go into a Test match without a huge amount of bowling.
"But the ideal situation is that they bowl here."
Wright impressing
Among other members of England's Test squad, Adil Rashid's chances of an imminent debut have receded significantly - he is currently staying with the Performance Programme in Pretoria - but all-rounder Luke Wright has impressed so far.
"Wright's a possibility (for Centurion)," added Flower. "He always seems to make contributions in one-day cricket.
"He comes up with a great one-handed catch here, or a quick 20 off 12 or 13 balls - or picks up an important wicket.
"He's still got a long way to go until he becomes a fully-fledged, skilful Test cricketer. But he is an option for us at number seven and someone who can bowl us some useful overs and make a breakthrough."
