Anderson plays down ankle worries

James Anderson has tried to calm concerns that his ankle could become a significant concern during the English season, and has put his current problems down to troublesome footholds in New Zealand.

Anderson's body has been creaking a bit during the series, and he was seen strapping his left ankle during the second day at Eden Park, but he said it was nothing more than a precaution. Anderson can expect a heavy workload during the home season with England playing the returns series against New Zealand before the Champions Trophy, and then the first of back-to-back Ashes series.

"It's not serious. I didn't start the game wearing the brace and I bowled 20 overs without it," he told the Mail on Sunday." I just felt I felt I needed a little support as the game wore on. I've had an issue with my ankle since I was 20 and the good thing is that it dies down as quickly as it arises."

However, he has been less than impressed with the area around the bowler crease through the recent Test matches. "It does flare up when the footholds aren't great, and the ones we've bowled on in the last couple of Tests haven't been great.

"They don't seem to fill them in over here which is something I can't quite get my head around. Whereas in England they fill them in with a substance that sets overnight so they are solid the next day, here they just leave them.

"Today they did try to work on them by hammering them down with a sledge hammer but I'm not sure how much good that did.

Anderson took two wickets in New Zealand's first innings to move level with Derek Underwood on 297 scalps, although was not quite at his best and struggled to make the ball swing.