England's James Anderson acknowledges the crowd after taking his 700th Test wicket following the dismissal of India's Kuldeep Yadav, caught out by Ben Foakes. (Reuters)England’s veteran pacer James Anderson will play in his 188th and last Test match starting this week at the Lord’s Cricket Ground against West Indies. The 41-year-old, who turns 42 later this month, believes that despite the age, he is still bowling as best as he has throughout his career.
Speaking to the reporters on Monday, Anderson said, “I feel like I’m still bowling as well as I ever have. But, I knew it had to end at some point. Whether it’s now or in a year or two. The fact it’s now is something I’ve got to deal with and accept. The last couple of months I’ve made peace with that. I can completely understand the decision and the way the team and management want to go.”
In 187 Tests for England, Anderson has 700 wickets to his name. The Englishman is only the third bowler to have crossed that milestone – only fast bowler – after Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800). A milestone he crossed in the fifth and final Test against India in Dharamsala back in March.
Anderson was asked the question whether he was calling it quits at too soon after he nabbed a seven wicket haul for Lancashire last week. “It’s difficult to say. I’ve not really got a choice,” the seamer responded. “It was important for me that I try and put in some good performances to finish with. I loved being out on the field with Lancashire last week. I’ve always loved playing for Lancashire. I’ve not played a huge amount for them over the last 20 years because of England duties.”
Anderson had announced that he will be retiring after the Test against West Indies back in May. The Guardian had reported that England’s Test coach Brendon McCullum had flown all the way from New Zealand to convey that the team is looking team is looking to incorporate changes for the future. The England daily said the management is looking towards the Ashes 2025/26 series Down Under and does not see Anderson making the cut for the same.
Anderson snapped six wickets in his opening 10-over spell for Lancashire on Tuesday. (Lancashire Cricket on X)
The Lancastrian admitted he hadn’t been thinking about retirement before he was invited to a meeting with the “three big dogs” – England men’s managing director, Rob Key, Test captain Ben Stokes and coach McCullum.
“I hadn’t really thought about it just because as I said I felt as fit as I ever have been in India,” Anderson said. “I thought that playing this summer would be achievable. Obviously as a senior bowler you don’t play every Test anyway, you get rested and stuff like that. I thought that was achievable and then think about stuff after that. That’s the way I’ve always approached it,” Anderson said.
England captain Ben Stokes revealed to The Telegraph of a funny text exchange with the England pacer after the latter snapped a 7-fer last week. “Did you really have to do that? He replied ‘yeah, ha, ha sorry mate’.”
Furthermore the England captain delved into the specifics of the decision as to why England have decided now is the correct time to move on from Anderson.
“He is still incredible. But the decision was made with the Ashes in mind. “His skillset will be missed but I look at it this way, the group of bowlers we have now are at the worst they are going to be because they will only get better. Their ceiling is so high, the more game time we can give them we will find ourselves in a very strong position in Australia,” Stokes said.
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