England's opening Test of the summer against West Indies at Lord's, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Wednesday, will be the last of James Anderson's international career - why now for Anderson and what will his legacy be? Sky Sports Cricket team take a closer look...
Monday 8 July 2024 14:01, UK
James Anderson believes "the time is right" to end his international career after announcing the date of his final Test with England.
Anderson has confirmed July's series opener against West Indies at Lord's from July 10-14, live on Sky Sports, will be his 188th and final Test appearance for England after a career spanning over 20 years.
The 41-year-old became the first seamer and just the third bowler in history to reach 700 Test wickets earlier this year, although he has claimed just 15 scalps in his last eight Tests at an average of 50.8 over the past 12 months.
He recently held talks with head coach Brendon McCullum, who wants to modify his side's bowling attack as they look to build towards the Ashes next winter in Australia, with Anderson now set to make one farewell appearance for England's Test side.
Former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, along with former international Ian Ward - who was Anderson's maiden first-class victim in 2002 - take a closer look at Anderson's career and legacy...
A version of this article first appeared in early May.
Atherton: "The Ashes are two winters away. There's absolutely no chance of a 43-year-old opening the bowling for England in The Ashes. I know that McCullum and Ben Stokes have always talked about living for the moment, living for now, but they also talk about planning for the future.
"Everything we've heard coming out of the England camp at the start of the year has been about pace, strike rates, cutting edge in preparation for The Ashes and all the young bowlers that England have contracted have been of that type, so it's not that much of a surprise."
Ward: "You sort of expected Jimmy to go on forever, but obviously that's not the case in elite sport. This is obviously with an eye very much on going down under to play Australia. I think Rob Key set the ball in motion in a couple of newspaper articles and television interviews, where he said he was looking for a bit more pace in the county game."
Ward: "Jimmy himself, I think, would want to continue for a lot longer. If you look at how fit he is now, he's been fit all his career, but you don't play that amount of Test matches as a fast bowler if you're not fit.
"He really did look in terrific physical shape over the winter in India. I think his desire is still there to play. But it would seem that Stokes, McCullum and Key think it's time to look elsewhere. I'm sure Jimmy will be very emotional about this."
Atherton: "Given his career, the 20 years of magnificent performances that we've seen, I think it's perfectly reasonable that he gets that Test match at Lords and hopefully he can get a great send-off."
Hussain: "It started at Lord's 21 years ago and it's going to end at Lord's. There won't be a dry eye in the house. I'm pleased, fitness and selection permitting, he's going to get that week at Lord's. He deserves it."
Atherton: "I'm not particularly a big one for sentiment in terms of selection, but looking at what we've seen over the last two years, his average and strike rate is pretty much where it's been throughout his career.
"Although the numbers weren't great in India, just in terms of the performance, it would be hard to argue that he's still not amongst the best swing and seam bowlers that England have. If you're picking a side today, you could make the argument that Jimmy Anderson deserves to be in the side."
Hussain: "Of course he should play at Lord's. It's Jimmy Anderson. Just because he had an average Ashes, that's one year or one summer. Anyone watched the 20 summers before that with the Dukes ball?
"You cannot tell me watching Jimmy Anderson, over the last 20 years, 15 years, 10 years, five years, that he's not in England's best side with the Dukes ball, but they do have to plan for the future."
Ward: "He will go down as our greatest cricketer in my view and one of the greatest the world has seen. I don't think we'll see numbers from a fast bowler or a seamer like this in first-class cricket or Test match cricket ever again.
"His legacy will be that he will probably be, almost certainly, the only seam bowler to take 700 Test match wickets and that is a phenomenal achievement. When you look at the pure numbers, he is arguably the greatest ever."
Anderson will remain in England's Test set-up this summer after agreeing to join their backroom staff as a fast-bowling mentor once he retires from playing duties.
England managing director of men's cricket Rob Key said: "He's got so much to offer English cricket, we don't want to see that go. He's going to be with us all summer.
"It's something that he's very keen to do as well. He hasn't done loads and loads of it, but we've got no question about his knowledge and experience with bowling.
"We have a great opportunity for the rest of the summer to find out just how much he enjoys or doesn't enjoy it. He is going to have lots of options. I think English cricket would be very lucky if he chooses to stay in our game."
Anderson has not yet decided whether to carry on playing for Lancashire but the county's head coach Dale Benkenstein told the BBC: "He definitely can still play, it'll just be whether he still has the desire to want to.
"Bowling is hard work and we will let him make the decision when the time is right. I think the positive thing is that it's not a no [to Anderson returning]. We are not pressuring him.
"Everyone talks about age but he's in such good physical shape and that zip is there."
The Test summer begins with a three-match series against the West Indies at Lord's (July 10-14),
Trent Bridge (July 18-22) and Edgbaston (July 26-30), with three more Tests against Sri Lanka in August and September.
Watch every England match throughout this summer live on Sky Sports.
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