James Anderson doubtful for England opener against Australia

James Anderson

Sydney, Jan 15 (IANS) Seamer James Anderson is doubtful for England's tri-series cricket opener against Australia on Friday, battling to recover from a knee injury. England take on the home team at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the first match of the One-day International (ODI) tri-series also involving Australia.

"It was more managing his workload coming back from injury," England skipper Eoin Morgan was quoted as saying by news.com.au here on Thursday.

"We decided that he wouldn't be able to play three games in a week - and obviously the most important game is tomorrow. So in order for him to be fit for selection, we needed to up his workload in the nets."

Morgan said Anderson was the only injury concern his team had, heading into the clash.

"He will go through a full practice today and we'll see how he pulls up tomorrow morning. Everybody else is, to my knowledge, at the moment fit for selection," he added.

England, helped by batsman Ian Bell's impressive 187-run knock defeated the Australian Prime Minister's XI by 60 runs in a warm-up match on Wednesday.

Morgan praised Bell for posting the highest individual score for England in a first-class match and said he was very confident about his team's chances in the tournament and the impending World Cup.

"It'll be nice to be sitting here at the end of this series with some silverware and very confident in where we're going as a side. Mindset and method wise, we're in a good place - particularly with our batting," Morgan added.