Aussies could suffer from England's COVID-19 layoff

He's already the oldest English fast bowler to take the new ball in more than 50 years, but James Anderson says the COVID-19 hiatus may extend his career even further.

Anderson, who turns 38 next month, is the only fast bowler in history to have played 150 Test matches, and he could have at least one more Ashes series in him, with England scheduled to tour Australia in the summer of 2021-22.

It's not inconceivable that Anderson could even become the first English fast bowler since Les Jackson in 1961 to play a Test after his 40th birthday.

Anderson was this week named as part of a 55-man England squad to return to training following the COVID-19 shutdown, with a Test against the West Indies on July 8 a possibility.

But far from proving a problem, the enforced layoff was a blessing for Anderson, who suffered a rib injury in South Africa in January.

"It could just add a year or two at the end of my career," Anderson said on his Tailenders podcast.

"I've really enjoyed being back and as odd as it is just bowling into a net, with not many people around, it's still nice to be back and playing cricket.

"I got up to speed quite quickly. I'm off my full run up and I feel like I'm ready to play now. I need to just calm down a bit.

"As players you are working towards the 8 July date as if it's going to happen but obviously each stage has to be ticked off by the government, most importantly, and secondly the ECB."

Anderson said the experience of training by himself was a big change to what he's become used to.

James Anderson celebrates his 100th Test wicket at Lord's

"I bring all the kit myself - my bands and med balls to warm-up with - and I've got my own cricket balls which I don't normally have," he said.

"I have a quick lap round the outfield and then straight into the nets. I bowl a few overs and then get straight back in the car and go home."

Anderson's 584 Test wickets places him fourth on the all-time list behind Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble.

While the Test series against West Indies is likely to go ahead without crowds, Anderson is a fan of artificial crowd noise, similar to Nine's NRL coverage.

"I've been watching the rugby league in Australia and I actually thought there was a crowd watching because they were playing crowd noise (piped in to the TV broadcast)," Anderson said.

"I actually thought it worked. It was nice to have that sort of atmosphere even though there was no-one there."



from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/cricket/james-anderson-ashes-covid19-extends-career/b6b3af14-6dd4-46bc-86a3-e8b489f62595

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