London,  England pace spearhead James Anderson has worked really hard on his fitness during the time away and is in fine shape ahead of next month's Test series against the West Indies, England strength and conditioning coach Rob Ahmun has said.

"We took a lot of learnings away from the James Anderson experience last year, to be honest, and part of that was the competitive cricket that the players need to be exposed to before they go back to performing on the highest stage," Ahmun told Sky Sports News' Arron Armstrong.

Anderson, 37, bowled four overs in the first Ashes Test before a calf injury ruled him out of the rest of the series. A rib injury then ruled England's leading wicket-taker out of the final two Tests of the series against South Africa on the road.

"This is why we've got this big squad, so there will be an inter-squad match just to make sure that these lads are prepped as much as possible. We've also tried to engineer the training sessions so that our best bowlers are bowling at our best batters as well.

"I've been in pretty close contact with Jimmy all the way through this. Even from the calf injury last year he's actually improved his physical capacities all across the board, which for a 37-year-old international bowler to do is fantastic," said Ahmun who joined the England set-up from Glamorgan in 2014.

"Again, it's just testament to the level of preparation and hard work that he actually puts into his physical training. He understands that if he doesn't do that, that he'll probably not get onto the park. So for him the physical stuff is a vital part of his day-to-day match preparation."