James Anderson, the former England pacer, who retired from international cricket last month after winning a Test against West Indies, has shown interest in joining franchise T20 leagues. The 42-year-old also spoke about wanting to play more cricket after his England retirement, while stating that he isn’t averse to taking up a coaching role in domestic or international cricket either.
In his illustrious career, James played a whopping 188 Test matches for England as the fast bowler, taking 704 wickets, the third highest in the all-time list. During his career in limited overs cricket, he picked up 269 scalps in 194 ODIs, to become the leading wicket-taker in the format for England, while his foray into T20I cricket lasted for a few years, wherein he got 18 wickets in 19 matches.
During his chat on the Final Word podc d ast, James Anderson spoke about his intention to play some professional cricket after leaving the international arena. He said, as per ESPNcricinfo, “I feel there is something there, that I still want to play a little bit more – I just don’t know what that is yet.”
I’m pretty open to anything: James Anderson on continue playing professional cricket
“I’m pretty open to anything at the minute. Things will become clearer as the rest of the year progresses. There’s two Test tours in the winter and I’m not sure I’ll be on them in this [coaching] role,” he added.
After playing his last T20 match in 2014, the NatWest Blast final for Lancashire, James Anderson pointed out how he hasn’t been a part of the franchise cricket scene, including leagues like the IPL, the Hundred, the Big Bash, and the PSL, among others. He said, “There’s plenty of things to think about and I just need to sit down and chat to people about it. I watch the Hundred and see the ball swinging around in the first 20 balls, and I think, ‘I can do that. I can still do that.’ I don’t know if that is a viable option, to maybe see if I could do a job in white-ball cricket? Franchise cricket is something I’ve never done.”