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Jimmy Anderson is set to bring the curtain down on his record-breaking England career this summer after face-to-face talks with head coach Brendon McCullum.
The Guardian understands McCullum recently made a five-day visit to the UK, traveling 11,000 miles from his home in New Zealand to meet Anderson and tell him in person, over a round of golf, that the Test team looking for a future.
That primarily means building an attack for the next Ashes series in the winter of 2025-26, when Anderson will be 43. England will play six Tests against the West Indies and Sri Lanka this summer, including one against the latter at Anderson’s home ground, Old Trafford, at the end of August – and that will probably be it.
It speaks volumes for Anderson’s passion and commitment to fitness that the pat on the back was necessary. Fresh from claiming his 700th Test wicket on the final day of England’s Test tour of India in March, the 41-year-old declared he was in the “best shape” he had ever been in and was looking forward to the summer.
Also, there was confirmation that his place in the Test side is no longer a given after a subdued Ashes last summer and 18 wickets for 50 runs in each of his last eight outings. “I have to work hard to prove that I deserve a spot,” Anderson told the Tailenders podcast.
McCullum and Ben Stokes have made a virtue of living in the present in their first two years as Test captain and head coach. They recalled Anderson and Stuart Broad at the start of their time together – they were dropped for Joe Root’s last tour as captain – and tried to wrest the last wicket from the award-winning pair.
While Broad called time at the end of last summer’s drawn Ashes series, choreographing his exit to perfection and claiming a wicket with his last ball in an England shirt, Anderson, four years his senior, did not mind following suit. Instead, he was given a new one-year central contract by Rob Key, the managing director of England cricket, and continued through the winter.
But that 4-1 defeat in India – a first series defeat under Stokes and McCullum – prompted a shift in perspective; the realization that their team’s ultra-aggressive, free-flowing approach needs “refining” – McCullum’s words – and a deeper stable of new bowlers must be built up in time for Australia’s next tour.
Asked at the end of the India tour if Anderson could make the trip, McCullum said: “I don’t know, honestly. Who knows where the finish line is for him, but for now just enjoy Jimmy around and make sure we use the experience he has. He’s a great resource for the other guys in the department.”
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Apart from reducing the number of voices in the dressing room, Anderson’s 20-plus years of Test know-how is why McCullum has never had a fast bowling coach under his guidance. Unless a behind-the-scenes role follows, this final summer represents the last chance for Anderson’s colleagues to mine this valuable resource.
This includes Josh Tong, Matthew Potts and Bryden Carrs, all names checked by McCullum during the India departure press conference. It remains to be seen whether Ollie Robinson is among them as England grow increasingly impatient with a seamer who, for all his abundant skills, limps in Test matches too often.
Robinson, 30,’s fitness record is in stark contrast to that of Anderson, who will play his 23rd season as a professional and enter his final Test summer, needing just nine more wickets to surpass the career tally of Shane Warne’s 708 wickets and is second only to Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralirathan (800) on the all-time list.
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