Anderson ruled out of Sri Lanka tour

England have removed James Anderson from their ODI squad to tour Sri Lanka due to a "pre-existing left knee injury". The ECB said that Anderson had experienced some knee discomfort during the summer and that he was being rested in order to ensure his fitness for the World Cup.

The decision means that England will contest the series in Sri Lanka without their two most proven fast bowlers, Anderson and Stuart Broad, who had surgery on a knee injury in early September to cure the tendonitis that has persistently dogged him in recent series.

If the absence of England's two leading strike bowlers would normally be a cause for regret, it might be regarded as opportune that they have necessarily been ruled out of a trip expected to be fought out in demanding pace bowling conditions - even if that does mean they will have to forego what Anderson himself termed an unparalleled focus on one-day cricket by England leading into the World Cup next year.

Anderson will at least be spared a year of hotel rooms as England embark upon a period of virtually non-stop cricket in an ever-crowded international schedule, but his downtime will not last for long as he undergoes what England have termed a "graded" recovery.

He will instead go to South Africa in December with the fast bowling element in the England Performance Programme in preparation for next year's tri-series against Australia and India before the World Cup.

There are no immediate plans to replace him in the squad for the Sri Lanka tour. The lack of a replacement suggests that England might be tempted to rebalance their squad away from a prototype World Cup squad for Australia and New Zealand, with a heavy emphasis on pace bowling, and instead strengthen their spin bowling hand in Sri Lanka with somebody like Adil Rashid, Yorkshire's legspinning allrounder, and seek to build momentum by winning the series.

They would certainly have plenty of options on hand in Colombo were they persuaded to go down that route. England also have a batting and spin camp in Colombo as part of the Performance Programme and could choose from not only from Rashid but the likes of Stephen Parry and Samit Patel.

An additional fast bowler would have to be summoned from another camp in Potchefstroom in South Africa. None of the seven quick bowlers on that trip immediately stand out as a one-day specialist, although England have resisted Ireland's overtures about fielding Boyd Rankin in the World Cup so they have not yet abandoned thoughts of him extending his international career.

Anderson is England's most successful ODI bowler in history with 257 wickets at 29 apiece and he is expected to equal the record jointly held by Graham Gooch and Alec Stewart of appearing in four World Cups. He and Broad have taken more than 400 ODI wickets between them.

But England have fast bowling cover in the form of Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes as they face seven ODIs in less than three weeks, the first in Colombo on November 26. One of them is unlikely to make the trip to the World Cup assuming England's most celebrated pair recover fitness.

England begin their World Cup campaign with a group match against co-hosts Australia in Melbourne on February 14.