Recently retired England pacer James Anderson is considering a shock return to white-ball cricket after being encouraged by the new ball movement in The Hundred 2024. His last T20 contest was the 2014 T20 Blast final before solely adopting red-ball cricket at the backend of his career.
Although he stopped playing internationally, Anderson is still among the best bowlers today because he hasn’t left anything behind. Thus far this home season, he has worked as a mentor for the English Test team which will probably finish after playing Sri Lanka’s Tests.
For years, he has turned up for Lancashire in the County Championship to keep himself match-fit during off-seasons. Moreover, there are gray areas that could lead to similar opportunities in white-ball with other opportunities not ruled out.
“I feel there is something there, that I still want to play a little bit more. Things will become clearer as the rest of the year progresses. There’s two Test tours in the winter and I’m not sure I’ll be on them in this [mentor] role,” Anderson said on the Final Word Cricket Podcast.
“I watch the Hundred and see the ball swinging around in the first 20 balls and I think: ‘I can do that, I can still do that.’ I don’t know if that is a viable option, to maybe see if I could do a job in white-ball cricket. Franchise cricket is something I’ve never done,” he added.
Anderson has appeared in 44 T20 matches during his career, taking 41 wickets with an economy rate of 8.47.
“My body has never begun to feel like it’s 42”- James Anderson
Even if the question has been talked about for quite a long time, Anderson is still like vintage. Moving through time as he outruns old age while his body maintains its healthy status, he has been recognized as an indispensable member of the English pace bowlers’ hall of fame.
Nevertheless, he was requested to retire from the game bearing in mind both The Ashes and a growing number of promising fast bowlers.
“I still feel [playing domestically] is not off the table. The way that my body feels, the way I have been bowling in recent years, I still feel I could potentially have something to offer on that front. My body has at no stage started to feel like it’s 42.”
“I will dive around the tennis court and I will still dive around the field when I’m playing for Burnley CC in five years’ time, until I literally can’t move. That’s why I want to keep going. I feel I was made to bowl quickly, to be a bowler, so while it’s still functioning, use it,” Anderson said in the same interaction.
“Bowling at the England lads in the nets, you have to have change-ups and slower balls. We constantly work it, so I don’t think [the skills and variations] will be an issue. But I don’t know how much people will want a 42-year-old bowler in their team so we’ll have to wait and see, ” Anderson concluded.
This might not make Anderson the future able for franchises; however, he could definitely benefit them from his expertise instead of having some absence of white-ball cricket.
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