Monday 6 November 2017 09:06, UK
Joe Root will have a willing vice-captain if he decides to replace the absent Ben Stokes with James Anderson for the fast-approaching Ashes series.
Root indicated last week that an announcement is imminent on who will fill in as his deputy for Stokes, still at home waiting to hear if he will be charged with causing actual bodily harm after a late-night fracas in Bristol and increasingly unlikely to join England on tour.
Anderson is one of several plausible candidates, including Root's predecessor as captain Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad - who previously led England's Twenty20 team.
England's evergreen, record-breaking seamer has not spent the first week of England's tour stressing about whether Root will ask him to step up.
But asked if he would rule himself out, he said: "Of course not, I wouldn't."
Anderson, 35, with 506 Test wickets to his name, is one of the go-to advisers for tactics on the pitch and, he admits, it is a responsibility he relishes.
"In the last couple of years, I've seen my role in the team as a leader," he added. "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."
As for becoming official vice-captain, however, he name-checks Cook and Broad too.
"It's not something I've thought about. 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."
Anderson was speaking on arrival in Adelaide, where England will acquaint themselves with the pink Kookaburra ball in a four-day match against a Cricket Australia XI - their rehearsal for the inaugural day-night Ashes Test at the same venue next month.
He had to work hard for his 4-27 in the drawn two-day fixture against a Western Australia XI which finished on Sunday, but is hoping for more assistance under lights in the second match of England's campaign.
"We've played one pink-ball Test in England but not with a Kookaburra," he said. "So coming over here and having the chance to practise with that and play in a first-class game is really important for us - especially playing in Adelaide, where the Test is going to be.
"I've heard the pink Kookaburra does swing a bit more... finding out how much the ball swings and what time of day it swings will be really useful for us."
While England were airborne from west to south Australia, their hosts' premier seam bowler Mitchell Starc was busy in Sydney - taking a Sheffield Shield hat-trick.
Anderson is an interested observer, of course.
"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."
