James Anderson has criticised the ECB’s new injury replacements trial for the ongoing County Championship season.
'It just feels a bit nonsensical' - James Anderson on injury replacement trial in County Championship
Lancashire have been at the receiving end of two puzzling injury sub calls. They weren’t allowed to bring in seamer Tom Bailey as a like-for-like replacement for Ajeet Singh Dale as he was deemed “too good a bowler” against Gloucestershire. Ollie Sutton was called up from a second XI game instead.
In the following round against Durham, they were not allowed to bring in left-arm spinner Tom Hartley for off-spinning all-rounder Arav Shetty as the former was more experienced. They eventually subbed on wicketkeeper-batter George Bell, who was in no way a like-for-like replacement.
Referring to the two calls, Anderson questioned what protocols the match referees were following when deciding whether the proposed substitutes were, in fact, like-for-like. "I don't know what the protocols are," he said on the Tailenders podcast.
"I think they just check Cricinfo and the stats, to see if the averages are better. Arav Shetty had really badly broken his thumb in three places and we were told we couldn't replace him with Tom Hartley because he's too experienced.
"It seems daft. Surely the whole reason the replacement thing has been brought in is for situations like that - someone has broken their finger and there is no way they can take part in the rest of the game, and we had a like-for-like replacement there. It happened to us at Gloucestershire as well. It just feels a bit nonsensical."
Also read: Why players can be subbed out for 'significant life events' in 2026 County Championship
Anderson: I can't be a replacement, ever
He further wondered if he would ever be allowed to come on as an injury replacement for another player, given the plethora of experience under his belt.
"It basically means I've got to play every game," Anderson added. "There's no point me resting, because I can't then come into a game - I can't be a replacement, ever. If I get injured, I get injured. There's more chance of me getting injured if I try to play every game. I can be replaced, because no one in our squad has the same experience, but I could never replace someone else."
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