James Anderson has reluctantly come to terms with his enforced retirement from Test cricket but is yet to decide whether his professional career is over and will even spend the rest of the summer bowling at England’s batsmen in the nets.
Anderson, who turns 42 at the end of this month, was informed by the England management in April that his Test career would end this summer. He subsequently decided this Wednesday’s meeting with West Indies at Lord’s, where he made his debut 21 years ago against Zimbabwe, would be his last.
Anderson will remain with the England team for the rest of this summer – he is contracted until October – in the role of “mentor” for a young crop of fast bowlers including Gus Atkinson, who will make his debut this week.
With 700 Test wickets, Anderson will perhaps be the best-qualified net bowler in cricket history, because he is yet to master the “dog stick” that has become a crucial coaching tool in recent years.
“Yes [I’ll still bowl at them],” he said. “I can’t flick, I can’t use that dog stick thing. I still love it. I still love bowling. I find it fun. As long as I can keep doing it, I will help the lads out.”
Whether he continues to play for Lancashire is unclear. Last week, he took seven for 35 against Nottinghamshire in his first Championship match of the season, and he is open to conversations with the county about playing in 2025.
“I’ve not decided yet,” he said. “I think the likelihood is that it’s my last game of first-class cricket this season. We’ll have to see what happens. Maybe in a few months’ time I’ll chat to the people at Lancs and see what we do going forward. It’s a difficult one to weigh up because my emotions are a bit all over the place at the moment. I want to make that decision thinking clearly.”
Anderson, who says he “doesn’t particularly like fuss”, will be fighting back the tears at Lord’s this week. “It will be awkward at times, I’m sure,” he said, “but there might be a point where I start milking it!”
Anderson sensed something might be afoot when asked to meet the England management in April and while he feels he is bowling “as well as ever”, he has come to terms with the news in recent weeks.
“It’s been a strange couple of months,” said Anderson. “I feel pretty happy with where things are now and pretty excited for the week. Having quite a few friends and family come down for the week is good. I’ve had a lot of people who’ve stopped me in the street saying they’re coming to the game.
“It’s difficult to say [whether he feels he is bowing out too soon]. I’ve not really got a choice.
“The message was that they didn’t think I’d make the Ashes, and they want to give as much game time to other bowlers, so they have other people with 15 to 20 Tests under their belt before that series.
“I’ll be 43 by then. For me, I’ve always thought that age is just a number; I don’t feel 41. I still feel as fit as I ever have, like I’m bowling as well as I ever have. My record has got much better since turning 35. I still think I could do a job, but at the same time I understand that it has to end at some point, and I completely accept – completely understand – their reasoning behind it. It’s important that we go to that Ashes series with guys who have got experience.
“I can completely understand the decision and the way the team and management want to go. In the last couple of months I’ve made peace with that and I’m excited to see what the future holds.
“I wouldn’t say it was a surprise because when the three big dogs invite you to a hotel in Manchester for a chat I didn’t think it was just a normal appraisal. They were surprised at how calm I was when I reacted. I was probably surprised at my reaction. I wasn’t overly emotional about it or angry about it or anything.”
As a mentor, Anderson will be impressing on England’s young bowlers that for all the riches available in the T20 game, there is nothing like Test cricket.
“Test cricket is literally the reason that I am the person that I am,” he added. “It has taught me so many lessons through the years, built my resilience. The fulfilment you get from putting in a shift in a day’s cricket is different to anything else you can do in the game. I know you can earn a lot of money from bowling four overs, but for me personally I would never get the same sort of joy or fulfilment from taking wickets that are caught on the boundary to try and really give a batter a working-over and figure someone out.
“I just hope there are enough kids and young professionals out there who still want that to be the case, rather than going chasing the dollar.”
