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Anderson dismisses retirement rumours; has eyes on 2021 Ashes

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England’s leading wicket-taker James Anderson said that retirement isn’t on his mind till the 2021 Ashes and wishes to carry on to the next season. 

Anderson’s performances have been mediocre this summer and that has fuelled the rumours that he will retire at the end of this season. However, the 38 year old has no intentions of calling it a day. 

“No absolutely not. I am still hungry to play the game. The frustration for me has been after one bad game, the whispers that go around. I don’t think that’s fair,” he said. 

The pacer picked up a solitary wicket in the 1st Test against Pakistan and has been averaging over 40 this summer. He hopes to bowl better in the upcoming games although he hasn’t bowled as badly as the numbers reflect. 

Anderson also spoke how he lost his cool somewhat after a dropped catch off his bowling early in Pakistan’s second innings.

Also read: How do England manage Jimmy? 1st Test talking points

“It’s been a frustrating week for me personally because I have not bowled very well, I felt out of rhythm,” he said. “Probably for the first time in ten years, I got a little bit emotional on the field, started getting frustrated, let that get to me a little bit. When you get frustrated and a little bit angry, you try and bowl quicker and quicker. That doesn’t help on the field. For me it’s a case of trying to work really hard the next couple of days, try to figure out of there are any technical issues I can sort out. Hope that I get the nod for the next game and I can try and show people I have still got what it takes to play Test cricket,” England’s all-time highest wicket taker said.

The veteran speedster also believes that his rhythm went off during the game as he was feeling confident before the game. 

“To be honest, coming into this game I felt good, but during the game there was something off – the rhythm wasn’t quite there. As I went through the game I just tried to start bowling quicker, run in faster, bowled a couple of no-balls which isn’t like me really. It felt like I was trying a bit too hard. I was chatting to Chris Silverwood and Pop Welch about some basics, making sure my action is where I want it to be and finding that timing. Hopefully I can continue this week and keep my fingers crossed that the captain and coach keep faith with me for the next game,” he observed. 

“I want to play as long as I possibly can. If I keep bowling the way I did this week, the opportunity to retire will be taken out of my hands. It will be a selection issue. But, for me, I’m still hungry. As I said, it was one bad game and I’m sure I’ll have another bad game in my career. I just don’t want every time I have a bad game for there to be whispers going round that I’m going to pack in. For me it’s about trying to find a way of dealing with that, dealing with the outside noise. I’ve done that really well in my career, but it’s a little bit different now,” Anderson concluded.

Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.

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Sarthak Karkhanis
Sarthak Karkhanis
Sarthak is a well-established cricket writer and video producer. In addition to writing for CricBlog, Sarthak has worked with Star Sports, ESPNcricinfo, The Quint, and Hotstar.

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