Opinion

James Anderson might just retire at the end of Old Trafford Test, says Steve Harmison

Written by Vishwas Gupta

Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison believes that veteran pacer James Anderson could retire at the end of England’s Test series against India.

Anderson, currently 39, is one of only two England bowlers – the other being Stuart Broad – to have taken more than 300 wickets at home in Test matches. Fred Trueman is third in the list of highest wicket-takers in England, with 229 wickets.

Among the leading wicket-takers at home, Anil Kumble is third, with 350, followed by Broad (341 wickets), and Shane Warne (319 wickets). The 39-year-old has been in top form in the series, having already taken 13 wickets at 16.25 and a strike-rate of 47.7. This year, he has taken 30 wickets at 19.79, including two five-wicket hauls.

“I’ve got a funny feeling, I don’t know what it is, but I really have got a funny feeling that Jimmy Anderson will retire at the end of Old Trafford,” Harmison told the talkSPORT cricket podcast.

“I don’t think the Ashes will either go ahead or go ahead in such a way and I think Jimmy might just look at this and go ‘you know what, if I go to The Oval and bowl well and then I’ve got Old Trafford at the end, my illustrious career couldn’t get any better than to finish by knocking Virat Kohli over from the end I bowl at, which is named after me, and there’s potentially no Ashes in six months time,” Harmison added.

Anderson, England’s highest Test wicket-taker, retired from the shorter formats of international cricket in 2015 to prolong his red-ball career but said that he was tempted by the idea of returning to white-ball cricket with The Hundred but didn’t go ahead with the idea as he did not want to jeopardise his Test availability.

About the author

Vishwas Gupta