Jimmy Anderson begins his first Test match day as a former England cricketer with a 7am game of padel before mentoring bowlers

Jimmy Anderson began his first Test match day as a former England cricketer with a 7am game of padel.

Anderson, 42 in a fortnight, has taken on a mentoring role with the bowlers since ending his playing days in last week’s innings win over West Indies at Lord’s.

It coincided with him moving away from a pre-match routine spanning 188 appearances over 21 years and taking on his former new-ball partner Stuart Broad in an early morning showdown instead.

Padel, of Mexican origin, is popular within England’s international dressing rooms with Jos Buttler and Sam Billings both featuring on the Pro Am tour last year.

Over the next few days, Anderson will be on hand to offer advice to a group that also includes Durham up-and-comer Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington, of Nottinghamshire, in addition to the long-serving Chris Woakes. 

The shadow of England’s doyen of fast bowling will loom large for some, but Root advocated the benefits, when he said: ‘You can’t buy that experience, can you? No fast bowler’s played that amount of Test matches, taken that amount of wickets. 

‘To have that amount of knowledge to bounce off, it’s invaluable really. To be able to have that right in the palm of your hand and to learn from it is going to be great at the start of your Test career.'