James Anderson: “I think it’s important Joe has people he can rely upon”

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England pace bowler James Anderson has revealed that he is open to the idea of being vice-captain for the Ashes series against Australia.

Anderson’s comments come after regular vice-captain Ben Stokes was withdrawn from the squad due to his alleged street fight outside a nightclub in Bristol.

It remains to be seen whether Stokes will play any part in the Ashes, but until then, England and captain Joe Root are in need of a new second-in-command.

When asked if he would rule himself out of the leadership role, Anderson was quoted by Sky Sports as saying: “Of course not, I wouldn’t. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen my role in the team as a leader.

“With young bowlers coming into the team, I’ve tried to help out as much as I can… I think it’s important Joe has people he can rely upon.”

Anderson added that Root’s predecessor Alastair Cook and fellow seamer Stuart Broad are also capable of assuming the role.

“It’s not something I’ve thought about,” he said. “My responsibility as a senior player is to bring experience to the group. Myself, Alastair and Stuart Broad all (do that).

“There are a lot of players on this tour who have not played in an Ashes series before, and not toured Australia before. So our job is to try and help as much as we can.

“That’s part and parcel of our job as senior players, having played over 100 Tests. It’s kind of your responsibility to be a leader.”

The 35-year-old, who is England’s leading wicket-taker in the longest format, also admitted that he is aware of the fact that Australia left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc took a hat-trick in New South Wales’ ongoing Sheffield Sheild game against Western Australia.

“I guess (I’m) loosely keeping tabs on it – we want as much info as possible going into the first Test on their players,” he said. “I’ve tried to watch as much as possible of the Australia team over the last year or so, knowing we had an Ashes coming up, and I’m sure in the next couple of weeks we’ll do more research.”