It is unlikely that James Anderson will play for Lancashire before June

James Anderson is unlikely to play for Lancashire in the County Championship until June. He is keen to manage his workload ahead of England's Tests against the West Indies and Sri Lanka in the second half of the summer.

In each of the last three years, Anderson has played four Championship matches for Lancashire. Due to a clash of dates with the T20 World Cup, England's home Test season starts about six weeks later than usual this summer, against the West Indies on July 10.

Lancashire will play seven Championship games before the start of the T20 Blast in May. They then have two more matches, starting on 23 June (against Kent at Canterbury) and 30 June (against Nottinghamshire at Southport). Anderson could be tempted to target these before the first Test against the West Indies.

Most of England's Test regulars are due to play in five of their counties' first seven Championship matches, although the timetable varies from player to player. According to Durham chief executive Tim Bostock, Ben Stokes is expected to participate in 'three or four' Championship fixtures for Durham before the first Test. This comes after his withdrawal from the T20 World Cup.