Rain delays second Take a look at toss as England wait on Anderson’s health

Rain delayed the scheduled throw at 10:30 am local time (0930GMT) in the second test between England and India at Lord’s on Thursday as the host’s veteran paceman, James Anderson, tried to prove his fitness for the game.

Stuart Broad, Anderson’s longtime New Ball partner, had already been excluded for the remainder of the series with five games after a calf problem in training.

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Anderson, who sustained a hamstring injury on Wednesday, was spotted warming up on the outfield on Thursday before a heavy downpour delayed the throw.

Both sides only have to confirm their teams themselves at the throw.

Anderson’s 621 test wickets are a record in England, with Broad finishing second in the national standings with 524 wickets.

Saqib Mahmood, who is vacant at Test level but is already an England international with limited overs, has been called up as cover.

He is fighting together with Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Craig Overton and all-rounder Sam Curran for a place in the home side’s pace attack.

England haven’t played a Test without Anderson or Broad since October 2016 and it has been nine years since both of them missed a Test on home soil.

Meanwhile, Haseeb Hameed could force his way into the top 3 in England, where opening batsman Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley both battled for runs with scores of 64 and 109, respectively.

England are left without two all-rounders in Ben Stokes, who is taking an indefinite hiatus from cricket due to mental health problems, and the injured Chris Woakes, while fast bowler Jofra Archer is out for the remainder of the year with an elbow problem.

India have to do without Tempo bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur due to a thigh injury.

Seasoned Paceman Ishant Sharma could replace Thakur, and India can also choose star-off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

England could opt to recall all-rounder Moeen Ali after deciding against a specialist slow bowler in Nottingham.

The story goes on

England announced on Thursday that batsman Ollie Pope, who struggled back from a hamstring injury, had been fired from their squad.

He will now play for Surrey in the One Day Cup game against Derbyshire.

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