- Jimmy Anderson has been a pleasure to watch for 21 years and deserves a fairytale ending
I was lucky enough to be there at the start of Jimmy Anderson’s career in England and present him with his first Test cap. And it will be an absolute joy to hopefully be there and see him at the end.
In the 21 years in between, everything he has done has been an absolute joy to watch.
The skill, fitness, endurance, coming back from injuries and setbacks, his will and hunger to win. He checks every box.
Everything an England captain, team-mate or fan could ask for from someone representing their country, you get from Jimmy Anderson.
He was absolutely phenomenal. If it takes someone to tap him on the shoulder and say, “Maybe we should move on,” then so be it.
Jimmy Anderson (left) has been a joy to watch since I handed him his Test debut in 2003
We should give him a great send-off for his 21 years of mastery and moments of brilliance
He turns 42 this summer and there’s a whole host of younger, faster bowlers coming along, so in the long run it’s probably the right thing to do.
England must learn to live without Jimmy and learn to win without him, especially in Australia.
But it is also right to give him another summer so he can say goodbye to the game and the English fans can say goodbye to the best fast bowler we have ever produced.
It will be an emotional time for him, but it will not be a farewell tour because in every match, in every spell he gives his best.
He will put as much effort into the last delivery he bowls with the red Dukes ball this summer as he did into the first delivery he bowled at Lord’s in 2003.
He looks fit and trim as ever and I’m sure he will get wickets.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have decided to go in a different direction. So it will be
Hopefully he can surpass Shane Warne’s tally of 708 wickets with a fairytale ending
He needs nine more to surpass Shane Warne’s total of 708. Hopefully he does that and continues to show everyone what a great player he has been in English cricket.
You hope he goes out on the same level as his great friend Stuart Broad last summer. He deserves his own fairytale ending.