Head must rule heart over Anderson - Cook

Alastair Cook has admitted England will be taking "a risk" if they select James Anderson in their team for the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

Anderson missed the first Test after sustaining a mild calf strain and, though he is confident he should be fit for this match, has not been able to deliver the overs he would have liked before heading into a major match. He bowled just five overs in the tour match in Potchefstroom and, while he bowled in training over the last couple of days in Durban, he usually does very little the day before a Test in order to ensure he is fresh.

With England having seen Dale Steyn break down during the first Test after coming into the match having recently recovered from injury, they will be very keen not to make the same mistake.

"We have to be really careful with heart and head," Cook said. "He's desperate to play but we just have to make sure it's the right decision for him. We don't want to hinder ourselves and have an injury caused that we could have prevented. Obviously there will be a bit of a risk about it."

Ultimately, it seems Anderson will be trusted to make the decision himself. As a highly experienced bowler who knows his body, the management are confident that his heart will not rule his head. He bowled at full pace and batted in the nets on Friday and all things considered, he looks likely to play.

"If he's fit to go, then he'll play," Cook said. "It's an interesting call because of how many overs he's bowled so far on this tour - it's not a huge amount - and the conditions will be tough for all of us. We'll have a good chat in the changing room and see how he feels.

"You want your best players playing. If he's fit and ready and confident, then he'll be opening the bowling. But we have to make sure we're right."

England's other concern is their consistency over recent times. In 2015, they won six and lost six Tests sometimes following an excellent performance (Grenada and Cardiff) with a pretty wretched one (Barbados and Lord's).

"I certainly haven't got to the bottom of why we've been so inconsistent as a side over the last ten months," Cook admitted. "Have we as a side learned? Can we be more consistent and harder to beat?

"If South Africa play out of their skin and we hit the same standards then I'll be happy. But we have to hit the same standard. In Durban, we set a benchmark. It's just a case of whether we have the same hunger in us to do that again."

In the longer term, England have some scheduling concerns. Both sides go into this match with just a two-day turnaround between games - it seems incredible to think that Tests used to contain rest days - and it starts a year when England are scheduled to play 17 Tests (though it is rumoured the five Test series in India could be reduced to a four-Test series).

Such a schedule - and that is before ODIs and the World T20 is considered - gives England's top players little chance to play at their optimum. Given more rest and care, Anderson and Stuart Broad might still be capable of producing their sharpest spells more often.

Equally Graeme Swann's elbow might not have caused so many problems and Jonathan Trott may have had time to recover his equilibrium. Andy Flower, too, may reflect that the relentless pressure of the England coaching role saw him change, over time, and become, for a while, a less positive figure.

Many of the players have their families with them at present - one of the coaching staff saw his family at Christmas for the first time since September - but there is a concern that the demands on those involved now stretch to around 300 days a year and create strains on family life that cannot be fully compensated by a large salary. International careers are becoming shorter; the demands are unsustainable.

"A two-day turnaround isn't great for the players," Cook said. "If we'd bowled 140 overs in the dirt in Durban and then had a two-day turnaround in 40 degrees, which it has been here, that's a gruelling ask to keep the standards up. Hopefully, this is just a one-off and people see sense. You need a couple more days between Tests.

"We started in April saying that we had 17 Test matches and it was a gruelling schedule. But we certainly won't be using that as an excuse at the end of this week if we don't play well."

The players, like the coaches, are pawns in a game that sees the ECB demanding more to sustain a business model that is creaking under the weight of the demands upon it. It is not easy for the ECB: pay any less and players may prefer a future in T20 leagues; play any less and the money may not be there for the academies, the development tours, the county system and salaries. But the current demands on the players are too great and, in time, will become self-defeating.