James Anderson has said that he wants to keep playing and has his eyes on England’s tour of India tour next year, but he understands that the decision is in the hands of the selectors, especially after an underwhelming performance in the Ashes.
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In an epic Ashes series that finished at 2-2 and is being widely hailed as one of the best Test series ever played, Anderson surprisingly turned out to be one of the least effective bowlers across both sides.
He played four of the five games and managed to pick up only five wickets at an average of 85.40. Only Scott Boland had a worse bowling average in the series, and he played only two games.
England’s next Test assignment is their tour of India between January-March 2024 where they are scheduled to play five Test matches. Anderson recently celebrated his 41st birthday.
Despite all odds being stacked against him, Anderson feels like he still has a lot of cricket left in him and wants to go to India for the Test series in 2024. In his column in The Telegraph, he wrote, “The chats I have had with England, I have said I have not contributed the way I wanted to in this series on the field but I feel like I have a lot to offer the team going to somewhere like India in the new year. At the moment, I feel like I want to go. But it is not my decision.”
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Anderson elaborated on his plans for the immediate future and how he intends to keep himself in shape for the India tour: “For me, I just want to take a couple of months off now. I will keep training and ticking over in the gym but bowling can take a back seat for a bit.
“I just need to get away from it. It feels like it has been a constant conveyor belt of bowling the last few weeks so some time away from it and then see where I am at in a couple of months’ time. Then I will think about the new year and whatever might happen.
“It is down to the selectors, but I will keep myself in good nick for the next few months then in October I will start turning my arm over again and get the bowling back up to scratch because it has been a bit off this summer. Then look forward to next year.”
Regarding his participation in county games in the next few months, Anderson said that he is not really looking forward to them at the moment: “There are county games in September but I’m not sure they are going to be on my radar really.”
