Jimmy Anderson is set to end his record-breaking career in England this summer following direct talks with head coach Brendon McCullum.
The Guardian reports that Mr McCullum recently made a five-day whistleblower visit to England, 11,000 miles from his home in New Zealand, to meet Mr Anderson and, while playing golf, tell him directly about the future of the Test team.
This primarily means building a seam attack for the next Ashes series in the winter of 2025-26, by which time Anderson will be 43 years old. England will play six Tests this summer against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, including one against Sri Lanka on Anderson's home turf. , Old Trafford in late August – and perhaps that will be the end.
It speaks volumes about Anderson's burning desire and commitment to fitness that he needed that tap on the shoulder. The 41-year-old, who just took his 700th Test wicket on the final day of England's Test tour of India in March, declared he was in the “best form” he had ever been in and was looking forward to the summer.
Similarly, after a modest Ashes the previous summer and taking 18 wickets for 50 runs in each of his last eight appearances, there was a recognition that his place in the Test side could no longer be taken for granted. “He's got to work hard to prove he's worthy of coming in,” Anderson said on the Taylorders podcast.
McCullum and Ben Stokes have made living in the present a virtue in their first two years as Test captains and head coaches. They remember Anderson and Stuart Broad from their early days together, and although they missed Joe Root's final tour as captain, they look forward to squeezing every last wicket out of this honored pair. And so.
Broad called time at the end of last summer's drawn Ashes series, choreographed his dismissal to perfection and took a wicket with his last ball in an England shirt, but Anderson, who is four years older, had no desire to follow suit. . Instead, he was handed a new one-year central contract by England Cricket's managing director Rob Key and soldiered on into the winter.
However, the 4-1 defeat in India, the first series defeat under Stokes and McCullum, prompted a change in outlook. In McCullum's words, there is a recognition that their ultra-aggressive, free-spirited approach needs “refinement” and a deeper blood of new seam bowlers in time for the next tour of Australia. I am aware that this is not the case.
Asked at the end of the India tour whether Anderson would be able to make the trip, McCullum replied: “Yes. Who knows where he will end up, but for now just enjoy being with Jimmy and allow us to take advantage of his experience. He is a great resource for others in the unit. ”
As well as reducing the number of voices in the dressing room, Anderson's 20-plus years of Test know-how is the reason why McCullum's management team did not include a fast bowling coach. Unless a behind-the-scenes role continues, this final summer will be the last chance for Anderson's crewmates to mine the precious resource.
That includes Josh Tan, Matthew Potts and Brydon Kearse, all of whom McCullum confirmed by name during his departure to India press conference. It remains to be seen whether Ollie Robinson is among them, but England have grown frustrated with seamers who, despite their wealth of skill, are too often lame in Test matches.
The 30-year-old Robinson's fitness record goes into his final Test summer as he is set to play his 23rd season as a professional and needs just nine more wickets to surpass Shane Warne's career total of 708. This is in stark contrast to Anderson's record. The number of victims is second only to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralirasan (800).