Anderson to play for Auckland

James Anderson bowls against the Invitation XI © Getty Images

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New Zealand Cricket have reluctantly agreed to allow England to fix up important match practice for seamer James Anderson in their domestic championship.

The tourists accepted an approach from Auckland to take Lancashire seamer Anderson to play for them in the remaining four matches of the State Championship, having lost two senior to New Zealand’s Test squad.

Anderson will link up with his new team on Thursday for the start of their match with Wellington at Eden Park, which will be useful match practice should he be required for the remaining two Tests of the series.

New Zealand Cricket have agreed to allow Anderson to play, but only after looking through the regulations to determine whether they could block the move as they believe they may be helping England to beat their own Test side.

Auckland have already provided Chris Martin and Kyle Mills to the Black Caps’ Test line-up.

But the recruitment of Anderson has caused friction at New Zealand Cricket, with chief executive Justin Vaughan stressing: “We are not particularly enthusiastic about it, but we can understand why Auckland want to do it with some of their other bowlers absent.

“We would be happier if they gave a chance to a young New Zealand bowler because we can see a scenario where Anderson bowls himself into form and then helps England win the deciding final Test because of that.”

Chris Martin is unavailable for Auckland due to New Zealand commitments

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Vaughan confirmed he would be contacting David Collier, his counterpart at the England and Wales Cricket Board, to determine whether New Zealand would be able to do the same when they arrive for their tour of England in April.

“I appreciate most counties will have filled their quota of overseas players but I will be looking for reciprocal arrangement where we could perhaps get some match practice at second XI level,” he said.

Asked whether that would be possible, England coach Peter Moores was reluctant to commit himself and said: “I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

But he was enthusiastic about the opportunity for Anderson and England, claiming: “He’s going to play for Auckland tomorrow so it’s an opportunity to get some match practice, which will be good for him.

“He’s played a lot of one-day cricket but didn’t play in the three-day game last week so it’s a great chance for him to go away and get some more experience of playing in New Zealand.”

England claim they are only looking at this first game and would review the situation after that depending on whether Anderson was required for the final two Tests.

Moores added: “It’s a good opportunity for one of our players to go along and play some cricket in a venue that is pretty close, it’s only an hour and a half down the road, so it made sense for Jimmy to go and play some cricket.

“Jimmy was very keen to go and play and that’s how it came about because of his enthusiasm to get a game under his belt and get a bowl.

“He’s bowled a lot in one-day cricket but this is an opportunity to test his rhythm and also his thinking for four-day cricket and the disciplines you need.”