James Anderson has admitted that his Burnley team-mates played a big part in his selection for England's current Ashes tour of Australia.

The Lancashire speedster, dubbed the Burnley Express following his rise to stardom in 2002/3, was back at Turf Moor last summer as part of his recovery from a stress fracture of the back.

And he says that it would have been extremely difficult to have made the trip down under if he hadn't spent a couple of weeks playing in the Lancashire League.

It was a beneficial move on both parts as Anderson helped Burnley to nick the title from under the noses of Bacup.

"That was definitely the one reason why they were so helpful, and let me play for them again," he said.

"They thought that playing for them might help me get a place in the Ashes squad.

"It was really good for me to go back to Burnley because it helped with my recovery, and also because I had spent six months without any cricket and I just wanted to get playing again.

"Not once, at any stage in my recovery, did I ever think about making the Ashes squad. All I was ever concerned about was trying to make sure that I got myself back to full fitness. I'm there now."

Anderson, speaking before being re-instated in England's Test side for the fifth Test at Sydney's SCG as a replacement for the injured Matthew Hoggard, played in the first two Test matches at Brisbane and Adelaide, taking two wickets for a grand total of 303, and was replaced by fellow Lancastrian Sajid Mahmood.

And the 24-year-old added: "I've definitely been a bit disappointed in the two Tests that I've played.

"I didn't actually think I bowled that badly, I felt pretty good, and I actually think the figures were a bit worse than I bowled."

"But, as a group, we haven't really done ourselves justice on this trip, and we are going to have to put it all behind us after this Test."

"We want to win (here in Sydney), and then the one-dayers are something to look forward to.

"Not just the one-day series here, but also the World Cup is on the horizon."

"Once we lost the series in Perth, we were desperately trying to pull it back to 3-1, and now 4-1.

"We are only playing for pride now - but there is a lot of that in the dressing room."