Anderson considers shock white-ball return to cricket
James Anderson is considering an unexpected return to white-ball cricket following his England retirement and is weighing up a farewell lap on the franchise circuit.
Anderson, the most prolific fast bowler in Test history, bowed out of international cricket in emotional scenes at Lord’s last month and his immediate transition to a coaching role appeared to signal the end of his playing career.
But the 42-year-old never officially announced he had bowled his last ball and is now pondering throwing his hat into the ring for deals in the T20 arena, or even next season’s The Hundred competition.
That would be something of a plot twist for a man who spent the majority of the last decade as a red-ball specialist and last played a 20-over game in 2014, but it also suggests Anderson has unfinished business on the field.
“I might be in a bit of denial because I’m well aware I won’t play for England again but I’ve still not made a decision on my actual cricket career,” he told the PA news agency.
“There’s definitely a bit of intrigue with the shorter formats because I’ve not played any franchise stuff before. Watching The Hundred this year, seeing the ball swing around, it makes me feel like I could do a job there.
“Once this summer is done I can sit down and have a real think if I want to play cricket in some shape or form again next year. I’m quite open at the minute to thoughts of any sort of cricket, I’m still fit enough to play and I’m not shutting myself off to anything.
“It’s hard to know if there’ll be any interest from people wanting me to play in that sort of thing so we’ll wait and see. I know it’s a while since I played it and my age will get brought up again but I really feel I’ll be good enough to play that form of cricket.”
Anderson’s current mentoring position is open-ended but captain Ben Stokes has already floated the idea of Anderson lending his expertise on next winter’s tour of Australia.
“My love for Test cricket is always going to be there and the Ashes is biggest thing you can be involved in as an England player. If you’re not playing then the next best thing is trying to help the team from the sidelines,” he said.
“It’s still a long way away and I still need to see if this is what I’m passionate about. Stokesy and England need to decide if I’m the right man for the job too. So far, so good, but you never know.”
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