Former England coach, pundit and broadcaster David Lloyd has hit out at England's decision to retire James Anderson, drawing parallels to his own experience and hitting out at 'inclusivity'.
Anderson bowed out of Test cricket at Lord's this week, after England's management decided to look ahead to the 2025/26 Ashes series, for which the pace bowler is not in their plans. Anderson, 41, took four wickets in the match against the West Indies and stated ahead of the series that he was bowling "as well as ever".
Writing in a collumn for the MailOnline, Lloyd criticised the decision to move on from Anderson. "The sad thing about Jimmy Anderson’s departure is that he’s bowling as well as ever," wrote Lloyd. "Accuracy, pace, stamina - he’s shown all those qualities and he’s still taking wickets. They say they are moving him on with next year’s Ashes in mind. I say, pick your best team. He was forced out because of his age.
"In this era of inclusivity, it takes the biscuit that someone has been stopped for that reason. Reader, let me tell you: I know the feeling. Inclusivity, my arse. I can call a cricket match stood on my head, but I don’t seem to be getting much work."
Lloyd left the Sky Sports broadcast team in 2021 after 22 years of broadcasting, aged 74. Shortly before his retirement, Lloyd was named by Azeem Rafiq in the DCMS hearings investigating institutional racism in cricket. Rafiq stated that Lloyd had sent messages on social media in the wake of the scandal which were racist towards the Asian cricket community. Lloyd issued a statement apologising for the messages and that he "deeply regretted" his actions.
In an interview shortly after the incident, Lloyd said: "I don’t bear any bitterness towards Azeem. None at all. I think some of the MPs on the DCMS committee were a bunch of chancers and grandstanders. Where is Julian Knight now? I think we know. Where is John Nicolson now? They were looking for a fall guy and I dropped straight into their lap."
Of the decision to step down from Sky Sports commentary, Lloyd said: "My self-esteem was absolutely dreadful. I wouldn’t answer the phone to anybody, even people like [Michael] Atherton, who was ringing constantly. He wanted to come and see me and I said no. I just locked myself away. I didn’t engage with anybody."
Since leaving Sky, Lloyd has worked on talkSPORT's cricket coverage and also had a regular collumn for the Daily Mail.
In May, Anderson had said there were days he woke up wishing he wasn't retiring. However, since then, Anderson has said he's made peace with the decision. He will join England as a fast-bowling mentor from the second Test onwards.
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