Lancashire-born James Anderson after serving for the England cricket team for 21 years retires at the age of 41. Anderson made his international debut in an ODI match on December 15, 2022, in a match against Australia.
James Anderson retired from international cricket on July 2024
In the following year, he made his test debut in a match against Zimbabwe on 22 May 2003. Since his debut, James Anderson played 188 Tests and 194 ODIs and bagged 704 and 269 wickets respectively. He becomes the first player to bowl more than 40000 deliveries.
Though James Anderson hasn’t featured in any limited-over matches since 2015, he continued to dominate in the red ball cricket. His 188 Test appearances made him the player with the most Test appearances for England and also made him the second-most of any cricketer, behind Sachin Tendulkar.
His 269 One Day Internationals(ODI) wickets remain the highest among the England players in this format of the game. Though Anderson played very few T20Is compared to his other format numbers, he crafted his name in England’s T20I history by being a part of England’s 2010 T20 World Cup winning campaign.
While speaking of his Test achievements, Anderson remains the leading Test wicket-taker of all time, being the first fast bowler to take 600 or more Test wickets, and in March 2024 he became the first fast bowler to take 700 wickets.
James Anderson made his last appearance for England in a Test match on July 12 in a match against West Indies at Lord’s, London. Anderson ended his Test career in a winning clause as England thrashed West Indies by an inning and 114 runs.
Earlier, Anderson announced his decision to retire from Test cricket with the first Test of the West Indies tour of England 2024.
Anderson, 41, finished his glorious career with 704 wickets in 188 Test matches, the third-best figures after legendary spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.
Goodbye’s don’t come any harder ❤️ pic.twitter.com/UfbkFdyEe3
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 12, 2024
While speaking at the post-match presentation, James Anderson said “It’s been an amazing 20 years. Overwhelming to see the crowd reaction. It has been pretty special. Every time I wear this shirt I tried to win games for England. Has been different. Emotions have been up and down. Seeing my girls ring the bell on Day 1”.
“It has been an amazing 20 years. You can’t have a long career without the support network behind you. It’s the familys journey as well as it is ours. As I mentioned, winnings series and Test matches are the only thing I will be interested in”.
“Winning in Australia, India and contributing to those wins is really, really special. It does hurt, but I have never really walked away from my responsibilities. The amount of emotions you go through in the game, the ups and downs Test cricket throws. When the captain throws you the ball at 6PM you have to show character”.
“Managing people, working in partnerships have helped me away from cricket as well. Certainly for me it has been a while I played white ball cricket but for me Test cricket feels like the perfect game and the satisfaction you get after 3-4 days”.
“White ball cricket has been amazing for the game of cricket and it will continue to be. He has been magnificent. Amazing week he has had. He went to India in the winter and didn’t play a game. I think he is going to be an amazing cricketer”.
