‘I'll be honest, retirement was not in my head…': James Anderson
'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.
The 42-year-old Anderson had joined English county Lancashire early this year for a one-year contract and has so far featured in the team for the T20 Blast as well as county championships.
'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.
While he has also captained Lancashire in the absence of Marcus Harris this season, the 42-year-old has also been running a podcast named Tailenders along with Greg James and guitarist Felix White. The former pacer also talked about how he sees coaching to be the inevitable way forward.
'I've been thinking about what to do when I eventually retire. I love the podcast I'm doing, Tailenders, with Greg James and the Maccabees guitarist Felix White. It's great that Freddie Flintoff is now coaching England's development squad, the Lions. He retired early, at 32, and went into TV but you can see that his interest in the game never stopped. He's one of the best, most entertaining players England has ever produced, so it's great for him to be able to use that level of knowledge.
'I've enjoyed dipping my toe in punditry and commentary, but I still have a lot of competitiveness in me that I need to quench. Coaching seems the inevitable way forward. I do still love cricket,' said Anderson.
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