James Anderson to miss county season start but could play for three more years

James Anderson believes he could still be playing in another three years but a calf twinge will rule the evergreen fast bowler out of the first month of the upcoming county campaign.

Anderson has not featured since ending his record-breaking England career last July but he has signed a one-year deal with his beloved Lancashire for the Rothesay County Championship and Vitality Blast.

The 42-year-old’s return to action has been delayed as he is out of this week’s Division Two opener at Middlesex and is also set to miss this month’s matches against Northamptonshire and Leicestershire.

His most likely return date is against Gloucestershire on May 2, owing to a problem in his right calf, which he injured six years ago and led to him missing almost all of the 2019 Ashes series.

But Anderson, who went unsold in both the Indian Premier League auction and The Hundred draft, refused to put a timescale on how long he could extend his career ahead of his 24th season as a professional.

“I am not ruling out playing for another one, two or three years,” said Anderson, who suffered a niggle last week during Lancashire’s pre-season trip to Desert Springs in Spain. “We’ll see how it goes.

“I could get a month in and think ‘absolutely not’ but I could have a great year, we could win everything and they might want to keep me next year so we’ll just have to wait and see.

“This club is a place I love, they helped me so much at the start of my career and throughout, I feel it’s nice to try and give something back, give myself to them for a season, maybe more.

“Up until last week, I was very much raring to go. I love bowling and still feel like I can do it to a high level. I’m looking forward to a full season of county cricket.”

Anderson is the most prolific seamer in Test history with 704 wickets but was nudged into international retirement by England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum with one eye on the future.

Since then, he has worked as England’s fast bowling coach as he revealed he “does not really want to dwell” on the fallout surrounding the end of his international career. He could still work with England in some capacity this year but he insisted Lancashire is his number one priority in the coming months.

“I think that ship’s well on its way,” said Anderson, when asked if he could envisage playing for England again. “All I can do is focus on the future and my job, which is to play for Lancashire.

“The best part of playing a team sport is winning as a team. If your focus drifts away from that, it’s not as enjoyable and I also think you don’t perform as well.”

Anderson, who has had a full pre-season with Lancashire and bowled in the nets during his coaching stints with England, is the senior professional at Emirates Old Trafford, where he has an end named after him.

At the other end of the scale is 16-year-old prospect Rocky Flintoff – the son of Anderson’s former county and England team-mate Andrew Flintoff.

“I think it’s quite cool I’m still around when a former team-mate’s son is making their way in the game,” added Anderson. “It’s quite cool that there might be an opportunity this year to play with him.”