James Anderson will return to Lancashire colours at Old Trafford, when he lines up against an England XI for Andrew Flintoff's benefit match, on Thursday evening. It will be Anderson's first bowl in match conditions since the end of England's tour of India where he sustained a stress fracture of his back.

Anderson will not be expected to come out all guns blazing, the outing will be viewed as an opportunity to help Anderson return to full fitness by the end of the current season.

"He will bowl a few overs, but he won’t be flat out and he will be very much under control to build that bowling workload up," explained Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire cricket manager. "He is at about 70 or 80 percent intensity at the moment and we will bowl him with a view to getting him up to 90 or 100 percent intensity towards the end of the season."

The match is expected to attract more than 10,000 spectators with a host of both England and Lancashire starts on show. Captained by Andrew Strauss the England team will include the likes of Steve Harmison, Ian Bell and Matthew Hoggard. Warren Hegg, the former Lancashire wicketkeeper who played two Tests, is also in the team.