Jimmy Anderson among England stars to miss start of County Championship season next month… with Ben Stokes to discuss plans amid 2020 World Cup ambitions

England’s leading Test players such as Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes will be conspicuous by their absence at the start of the County Championship season.

With the summer’s first Test series against the West Indies not starting until the second week of July, Anderson, 41, is understood to be considering a shorter lead-in rather than stringing together a series of Division One games with Lancashire, while he has recently.

Last year, the veteran seamer featured four times in the space of a month, but was then left sweating over his fitness ahead of the Ashes when he tweaked his groin and withdrew from the fourth during the first innings of Somerset’s visit to Emirates Old Trafford.

After becoming the third bowler in history to take 700 Test wickets a fortnight ago at the end of a challenging tour of India, Anderson will be among those rested when the Championship gets underway on April 5.

However, he may choose to limit his first-class appearances for Lancashire to May or even late June – when the Championship reopens for its second block of matches – to prioritize being at his best in the three matches against the Windies and the three against Sri Lanka, that follows in August and September.

Meanwhile, Stokes, who is halfway through the 12-month central contract he signed last autumn, is expected to discuss his plans with England director of cricket Rob Key when the pair meet for a post-winter debriefing on Friday.

Stokes, 32, recently said he wanted to be part of England’s Twenty20 World Cup defense and preparations for that start in May with Pakistan hosting.

Focusing on white-ball cricket when he begins his 2024 season would therefore make sense, and equally Durham would relish the prospect of England Test captain or indeed multi-format fast bowler Mark Wood turning out for them in any of their 7 opening games left in the division. One as a huge bonus.

But things are different for the batsmen and Joe Root has indicated to Yorkshire that he will be available for a number of Championship and Vitality Blast matches during the first half of the season.