Anderson given three days to prove his fitness

James Anderson has been given three days to prove his fitness to England, otherwise he will make an early return home from Sri Lanka.

Anderson twisted his right ankle playing squash against James Kirtley ten days ago, and despite early signs of encouragement, he has not recovered as quickly as expected. If he is not able to bowl in the nets by next Tuesday, the day the first Test begins, England will send for a replacement.

"We have got to monitor him over three days and if he makes no more progress we will need someone else out here quickly," said Duncan Fletcher, England's coach. If Anderson does fail to recover, then Fletcher is likely to call for Martin Saggers, who played in the second Test against Bangladesh, even though James Kirtley was kept on as cover from the one-day squad after Anderson was hurt and Stephen Harmison was ruled out with a bad back.

Kirtley boosted his chances of making the side for the first Test after he took five wickets in England's warm-up match against a board XI. "Kirtley has definitely come into the equation and we will have to think long and hard as to what we are going to go with," Fletcher pondered. "We have to throw all kind of things into the boiling pot and take a long look at the wicket before we decide."

Fletcher is keen to make sure the squad has plenty of bowling options due to the high risk of injuries playing three back-to-back Tests. Indeed, England have used 11 different opening combinations in Test cricket in the last 12 months.

"If we had one injury after this Test match we would need an out-and-out quick bowler on standby," Fletcher added. "We just can't seem to have the same unit going into every Test match. It is disruptive because each bowler has an individual role they are trying to develop. At the moment there is no way individuals can learn to develop their game; playing one Test match and then being out for three or four, back in for two."