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‘I’m praying that this isn’t the end’ – James Anderson breaks silence after England axing

by Wisden Staff 4 minute read

Speaking publicly for the first time about being dropped for England’s upcoming Test tour of the West Indies, James Anderson has said he is “praying that this isn’t the end” of his international career.

Anderson and Stuart Broad, with more than 1,000 Test wickets between them, were both left out of England’s 16-man touring party earlier this month for the three-Test series. Interim managing director of England men’s cricket Andrew Strauss, who was part of the selection panel that picked the squad, said: “I want to emphasise this does not mean the end for them as England players. We feel that it is important to look at some exciting new bowling potential and give some added responsibility to other players who have featured previously.”

Speaking on the Tailenders podcast, Anderson reflected on the decision, adding that he still has the “hunger and passion to play”.

“It’s been a weird couple of weeks, I guess,” said the 39-year-old fast bowler. “Just trying to process what’s gone on, really. It was a bit of a shock and disappointment to get that call to say I’m not going to the West Indies.

“This is all out of my control now. I’ve got to try and focus on stuff that I can control and that’s playing cricket and showing people what I can do with the ball in my hands.

“There’ve been quite a few texts between myself and Broady [Broad] in particular, getting some initial frustration and anger out, but now it’s really trying to look to stuff that we can affect. For me, I think the frustration was, obviously [it was] a difficult tour of Australia but I was happy with the way I bowled, I thought I put in some decent performances out there.

“I had a few days off when I got home. And then I was straight back working in the gym at my fitness, trying to get my body back to where I want it to be and started bowling again, getting ready for that West Indies tour. I felt in good shape, I still do. It’s just one of those things. It’s just frustrating and now I’ve just got to look to the summer and try and show people what I can do. I still feel like I’ve got the hunger and passion to play. I feel in great shape. I just want to keep bowling.

“I think I’ve got one more go at digging deep. I’ve dug deep quite a lot over the last 20 years, at times. But I think, as I said, I still love playing the game, I still enjoyed bowling out in Australia even though the results didn’t go our way. There is likely to be a new director of cricket and new head coach in the summer, so I just hope that whatever decision is made it’s talked about in the way it should be.”

Anderson also expressed frustration at how the decision was briefly explained to him over a short phone call from Strauss.

“Another frustration for me over the last couple of week is a five-minute phone call doesn’t really clear much up for you,” he added. “For me, it’s trying to process everything, and people making their own opinions as well, trying to stay away from Twitter and the noise on social media as well has been difficult. In amongst that noise there’s been some amazing messages so I’d like to thank everyone who’s sent me a nice message on social media, all my mates who were straight on the phone.

“I’m praying that this isn’t the end but if I never play for England again I know I’ve got amazing people around to support me. That’s really important to me. And also my family, Daniella’s been amazing through all this, she always is. As I’ve said, last 20 years, there’s been lots of ups and downs so she’s been amazing again. Kids are delighted that I’m not going to the West Indies so they can spend more time with me, which is good. I want to keep playing, I want to keep bowling, so we’ll just see what happens in the future.”

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