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Legendary England pacer James Anderson announced his retirement from Test cricket in 2024. He finished not only as England's leading wicket-taker, but also as the seamer with the most wickets in international cricket. Overall, Anderson is the third-highest wicket-taker in history with a total of 991 scalps under his name and is only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (1347 wickets) and Australia's Shane Warne (1001 wickets).
James Anderson wanted to play for 12-18 months more
However, the 42-year-old has now made a shocking claim almost a year after his Test retirement and has stated that he had no intentions to retire and still had the hunger to play at the highest level. He added that he wanted to play for another 12-18 months, but wasn't able to do so as he was moved away from the team.
"I'm still a bit mixed on it. It's one of those things that was out of my hands. They made the decision to move away from having me in the team. That was pretty gutting at the time. I'd been preparing before my last Test match for the next six, 12, 18 months of Test cricket; I wasn't anywhere near retirement in my head. I felt I still had that want and hunger to play, to do the hard yards, the training, the skill work," Anderson told The Independent.
Anderson, who played his last Test match against West Indies at Lord's, remarked that he was very happy seeing the stadium being full despite the play concluding in only 1-2 hours on Day 3 as England won by an innings and 114 runs. He also stated that if he had not taken up the mentorship role for the remainder of the series, then it would have been hard for him to process everything.
"If I'd just left the team after that West Indies Test match, it would have been more difficult for me to make sense of everything and deal with the fact that was the end. To stay around the team and still be in the dressing room, still trying to have an impact on Test matches, I think that was good for me. The reaction was above and beyond anything I'd ever expected. That last day against the West Indies: I think it was just an hour or so on that last morning but the ground was full. It was amazing to see a sea of people there," Anderson added.
The legendary pacer stated that the door for him to return to the national team may be permanently closed, but also admitted that if he does get asked to rejoin the team, then he will think about it seriously.
"I think the door is probably closed, to be honest. If I got the phone call, I would seriously think about it but I just do not think that is going to happen. I don't think I could be further away from that. I think there would have to be a serious number of injuries for me to be considered," Anderson concluded.
The 42-year-old recently made a return to County Cricket and featured for Lancashire in their clash against Derbyshire that commenced from May 16. Anderson performed quite well in the match and ended up taking a total of five wickets, however this wasn't enough to take his side to victory and they drew the game.
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