James Anderson looks set to take his place in the England side for the opening Ashes Test after making good progress in his recovery from a broken rib (Anderson 3/1 to be top England series wicket-taker).

The England paceman picked up the injury while boxing against one of his team-mates on a recent training camp in Germany and it was unknown whether or not he would be in the starting line-up against Australia for the Brisbane Test on November 25.

After initial scaremongering by the tabloid press, it became clear that the injury was not as bad as first thought and England team director Andy Flower has now confirmed that the Lancastrian is already bowling in the nets and should be fine to play a full part on the upcoming trip Down Under (2-2 Ashes series draw priced at 15/2).

“He’s already bowling at 75%, so he should be fine for the first Test,” Flower said. “More than likely, he’ll be okay for two of those warm-up games.”

England will play Western Australia in Perth, South Australia in Adelaide and complete their preparations with a trip to Tasmania to face Australia A, before the real action begins at the end of November.

England have Chris Tremlett as one of their back-up fast bowling options if Anderson does fail to recover in time and, with so many matches on the tour, it may well be that the Surrey man gets plenty of opportunities to force his way into the starting XI on merit (Tremlett 12/1 to be top England Ashes wicket-taker).