'There's nothing else we could have done' – James Anderson

Anderson, who is England's leading wicket-taker in Tests, was only able to bowl four overs in the match before his calf problem flared up. He was on a break a month before the Ashes nursing the injury, which he had picked up while playing for Lancashire in the County Championship.

With Anderson out of action, England's depleted bowling resources meant that they were unable to stop Steve Smith's onslaught in both the innings and ended up losing the Test by 251 runs. The 37-year-old, however, firmly stated that playing in the first Test was not a misguided decision. "There's nothing else we could have done. I did all the rehab - the only thing I didn't do was play a match but there's Twenty20 going on at the minute and there's no games to play," he told on BBC's Tailenders podcast.

"I'm sure if I do manage to come back in this series then I'll have to play some sort of cricket beforehand," he added.

Anderson was included in England's squad for the one-off Test against Ireland in late July but was ruled out before the final XI was announced as a precautionary measure to keep him ready for the Ashes. While he batted in both innings at Edgbaston, the senior bowler did not look comfortable in the middle.

"I missed the Ireland Test as a precaution to make sure I was 100% for the Ashes," he said. "I felt angry having done all the work to get there. All the tests they do on the calf to see if it's okay, it just wasn't playing ball so it was hugely frustrating.

"It settled down a bit when we were batting and I was planning on bowling in the second innings, but when I was batting I pushed off for a run and it didn't feel right."

Anderson has been ruled out of the second Test, which begins on 14 August at Lord's and his participation in the latter stages of the series remains doubtful. "You feel lots of guilt [and you're] generally frustrated but you're trying to help out the lads as much as possible without making them feel worse," he concluded.