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James Anderson will put playing for Lancashire ahead of his coaching commitments with England this summer after confirming he will extend a playing career that dates back to 2001.
It was announced on Monday that Anderson had signed a one-year contract with Lancashire which would take him beyond his 43rd birthday.
Telegraph sport revealed last week that he was in talks to restart his career with the county even though he had not played a competitive match since his Lord’s Test farewell in June last year.
Since then, Anderson has joined England’s backroom team as a fast bowling coaching consultant, but he has continued to work on his fitness and played against England players in the nets, with a view to playing again this year.
He will be available for Lancashire in all formats and will likely play Twenty20 cricket for the first time since 2014. “I don’t think it would be fair to Lancashire if I just dipped in and out,” he said. he declared on his BBC podcast. , Tailenders. “It’s just me giving it a good chance and that will take precedence over anything else over the summer.”
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Anderson’s central contract ended in October and he did not have a deal in place with Lancashire. But discussions intensified with Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket, after Anderson returned from England’s tour of New Zealand in December and a new contract was agreed at the weekend. Anderson insisted it’s his love of the game that keeps him going and he wants to maximize his playing days for as long as possible.
“The only thing I knew for many months was that I wanted to play cricket,” he said. “I was just trying to work out what type of cricket I wanted to play and after a few discussions with Lancashire and their plans for the year, it seemed like a good thing to do.”
Anderson is currently in Abu Dhabi for a training camp with England’s fast bowlers and has confirmed he will join the backroom team for the Champions Trophy in February, the first global tournament captained by Brendon McCullum as head coach in all formats.
Anderson has made an impression as a bowling coach since his enforced retirement in England and will continue to be used as a freelancer. “I will play as much as I can,” he said. “As much as I enjoyed coaching, I’ll see how it fits this summer.” But as long as I’m still able to play – fit enough and young enough – I want to do it. I can’t do this in three years.
The veteran will relish rekindling his Lancashire career with a Dukes ball on green pitches in April. The county’s first Division Two match of the season will take place at Lord’s, the scene of Anderson’s final stirring England match, on April 4.
Anderson played for Lancashire just once last season and showed he remains a cut above county cricket by taking eight for 64 against Nottinghamshire at Southport. It’s easy to see why Lancashire were so quick to agree to take him on as they look to bounce back to Division 1 at the first attempt, not only for his bowling skills but also for the effect he can have on young cricketers.
