I’ll be honest, retirement was not in my head…’: James Anderson

written by Atharva Jori
“I’ll be honest, retirement was not in my head,” Anderson, who had taken 704 wickets in 188 Tests and currently sits at third spot in leading wicket-takers in Test cricket behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, told The Times. “I was still bowling as well as I ever had, and my body was in good shape. I was looking forward to the Ashes. All sport needs young people coming onto the scene, but you have to balance that with age and experience. It’s difficult. I’d been told that as long as I was good enough to warrant a place in the team, and fit enough, they’d keep picking me… but then they changed their mind. I did see their point. I wasn’t angry, though my wife was; probably still is. But then she’s always been my biggest supporter, my biggest help throughout my career,” Two months before he retired from international cricket, Anderson was told by ECB Managing director Rob Key, McCullum and Stokes about him not being in their scheme of things. Anderson did spend some time with the England team after retirement as a mentor for a couple of international tours. “I retired from international cricket last year, but not entirely willingly. I had a meeting with the captain, coach and director of the England cricket team in April, and they said they wanted to move in a different direction, and bring in some younger guys ahead of the Ashes. They kept me on in a team coach/mentor capacity, but I felt I still had an itch to scratch, and more cricket to play while my body was still able to. So I spoke to Lancashire and they got me on board,” added Anderson.

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