Anderson doesn’t want to retire after Ashes, says he has a lot more to give

PTI, Jul 29, 2023, 10:51 AM IST

Image credit: Twitter / @ICC

London: Veteran England fast bowler James Anderson has no plans to retire after the ongoing fifth Ashes Test as he still has a ”lot more to give” to his team.

England’s all-time leading wicket-taker Anderson will turn 41 on Sunday.

Although he has taken only five wickets in the Ashes series, he feels he is not bowling badly. ”I don’t feel like I’m bowling badly or losing pace or that I’m on the way out. I still feel I can offer a lot to this team.

”In terms of retirement, I’ve got no interest in going any time soon. I feel like I’ve got a lot more to give,” Anderson was quoted as saying by the BBC after second day’s play on Friday. Anderson bowled well on the second day of the fifth Test, but picked up his only wicket in the form of Mitchell Marsh.

”You pray that these lean patches don’t come in one of the biggest series you could play in but unfortunately for me that is the case,” he said. ”I’ve still got another innings to try to do something for the team. I felt like today I bowled really well and on another day I could have got a couple more wickets.

”It felt like I challenged the forward defence a lot, which is what I’ve tried to do throughout my career.” Unaided by the pitches in the first two Tests, Anderson picked up only one wicket at Edgbaston and two at Lord’s with England suffering defeats on both occasions.

He, however, missed the Headingley Test which England won on a lively surface. In the ongoing fifth Test at The Oval, Anderson became the oldest player to open the bowling for England in an Ashes Test since Johnny Douglas in 1925.

After the Ashes, Anderson’s next chance to don the England whites will come in January in India and he is hoping to continue till then. ”As soon as you get into your 30s as a bowler, people are asking how long you’ve got left.

”But in the past three or four years, I’ve bowled as well as I ever have. I feel like I’ve been in so much control, my body has been in a good place, my skills are as good as they ever have been.

”The numbers, the wickets, the selection side of it is a completely different issue. If Stokesy (Stokes) and Baz (Brendon McCullum) say ‘you’ve not got the wickets we would have liked’ then I’d be absolutely fine with that,” Anderson added.