DHARAMSHALA — As James Anderson approaches the milestone of taking his 700th Test wicket, the natural question is just how long can he actually go on playing for?
At 41, he is already way past the age most other professional sportspeople decide to retire. Of his peers, all have fallen by the wayside, with the last, Stuart Broad, bowing out of cricket triumphantly at the end of last summer’s Ashes at the age of 37.
Looking down England’s XI from Anderson’s debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in May 2003 tells you just how long this country’s greatest-ever bowler has been at the top.
This was a team captained by Nasser Hussain, who has been a pundit for Sky Sports for the past 20 years. Michael Vaughan has gone the same route with the BBC, while Rob Key, who batted at No 5 in that match, is now England’s director of cricket.
Mark Butcher has also embraced punditry as well as being known as an accomplished musician. Marcus Trescothick, one of England’s finest-ever openers, is now England’s batting coach and again shares the same dressing-room with Anderson.
Of the others, Matthew Hoggard retired in 2013, Steve Harmison is another who has moved into the media.
Ashley Giles was England’s director of cricket before leaving the role after the failed 2021-22 Ashes, Anthony McGrath is coach of Essex and Alec Stewart is Surrey’s long-standing director of cricket.
To be fair to Anderson, he is by far the youngest member of that XI who beat Zimbabwe an innings and 92 runs 21 years ago.
However, the fact he is the last man standing from that first team he played in is remarkable given the most recent retirement from that XI was Trescothick when he finally bowed out of county cricket aged 43 in 2019.
Chat about Anderson’s retirement date has been around for much of the past seven years or so. The fact he turns 42 in the summer doesn’t necessarily mean he will retire this year.
Indeed, only this week England’s captain Ben Stokes said: “I can’t see him stopping. I have played with Jimmy for a long time and I’ve never seen him look as physically fit as he does right now. Being 41, showing that hunger and desire to get better every single day is testament to his attitude and commitment to the game.”
One thing that seems certain is that unlike Trescothick, Anderson won’t continue playing county cricket when he calls time with England. Lancashire would love him to do just that but it seems inevitable Anderson will bow out at the very top whenever he does decide to retire.
When could Anderson retire?
An Old Trafford farewell
England’s first Test against Sri Lanka at his home ground of Old Trafford in August would be a contender you’d think if this summer was to be his last.
The end of the summer
Or perhaps the final Test against the same opponents at The Oval in early September.
The 2025 Ashes?
Yet who’s to say Anderson won’t continue – or at least try to – until the next Ashes series in Australia the winter after next?
He would be 43 by then but given his freakish physical state for a man who is middle aged, maybe one last crack at the Aussies in 18 months’ time really is possible?
Anderson targets Warne record
One possible reason that Anderson is continuing to play cricket – aside from the fact he is still good enough – is the feeling he still isn’t exactly sure what he will do when retirement finally comes.
It’s a hard decision for any professional athlete and in Anderson’s case there’s no need to rush given how well he is still bowling.
This week in Dharamshala it seems inevitable that Anderson will get the two wickets he needs to join spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan in the 700 club.
He’s already operating in uncharted territory for a seamer, with Broad on 604 the next most prolific in the history of Test cricket.
Warne’s mark of 708 wickets is in reach, although to go past Murali’s tally of 800 would need Anderson to not only reach the next Ashes in Australia but go beyond it.
You can never rule anything out with Anderson, yet even that might be stretch for a bowler who has made a habit out of confounding expectations.
