Follow UsThe third-highest wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket, James Anderson said there is ‘no animosity' between him and former England Test captain Joe Root after he was controversially dropped from the set-up for the West Indies tour earlier this year. However, the 39-year-old did admit that the omission made him reassess his priorities.
“I definitely questioned it, yeah. I talked it through with my family as well, and they saw it as I did, that I feel like I've got more to give to the game. The longer time went on, the more I was with the Lancs lads doing pre-season training. I was still doing the gym work, and I wasn't bored of it. I wanted to be there doing it, irrelevant of what was going to happen in the summer,” said Anderson, who has 640 wickets in 169 Tests.
"If I play the whole season for Lancashire, then great. If I get a Test call-up then brilliant, but at the minute I'm really enjoying playing cricket. It did come into question, I guess - do I want to do I want to carry on? But in my head, I quickly decided I did want to see what happened this year."
Anderson and Root recently went toe-to-toe against each other during the County Championship match between Yorkshire and Lancashire at Headingley. Root smashed 147 in the first innings but was knocked over for just four runs by Anderson in the second essay. The right-arms seamer finished with figures of 15-7-17-2 in the second innings. So, did he say anything to Root after getting him out?
"Absolutely not, no. Didn't need to. Just pick the two stumps off the ground. I did enjoy that one, it was nice to get a player of Joe's quality out. We do talk. We've not fallen out or anything. Yeah, we chatted. I spoke to him before he announced that he was stepping down. There's still a huge amount of respect between the two of us so there's no animosity.
"The biggest thing for me was that we were pushing for a win. Obviously, he got 140 in the first innings; we know how good a player he is. A few of our guys were seeing him up close for the first time and realising how good a player he is; they all commented on it. It was fruitless in the end, but we were pushing hard for that win, and he was the best player so it was nice to get the best player."
Anderson said he is pretty confident about his cricket and just wants to focus on the future. “It's gone now. It's history. I'm not bothered about what's gone in the past. All I can control is what I do in the future. I've got to try to prove that I'm still good enough to play international cricket and keep my fingers crossed that the selectors and the captain think so as well.
"I don't think from a performance point of view my confidence would have taken a knock. I felt like I bowled well in Australia and since I've been bowling back in England I've felt like I'm in good shape and bowling well. So from that point of view, I feel like I know what I'm doing and I don't think that will change, really.
"I guess you do start questioning other things when that sort of thing happens - is it something I've done around the group or whatever else? I guess that's the one thing that you start thinking about. But when it comes to cricket I'm pretty confident that I'm doing okay."
England are scheduled to play three Tests against New Zealand in June and they will now be under the new leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Stokes, in particular, has been pretty vocal about getting Anderson and Stuart Broad back in the set-up, but the former is not looking too far ahead.
“Until that squad's picked I'm not counting on anything. My job's to try and prove that I'm in good form, take wickets for Lancashire and help them win games. That's all I'm bothered about, and then we'll see what happens whenever the team is announced."
Anyway, England don’t have too many options available in the pace department. Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher have succumbed to stress fractures, while Sam Curran has just made his return to County cricket after being out of action for six months. Craig Overton and Chris Woakes have got knee injuries, while Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are coming back from elbow operations. Then there is Ollie Robinson, who has constantly been struggling with his fitness.
Talking about his and Broad’s longevity, Anderson said: “I don't know, it's just luck I guess. We still love playing, we're really hungry to take wickets, and still love that feeling you get from it. I've spoken to Stuart a lot over the last few months, we still feel like we've got a lot to give the game, whether it's for Notts or Lancashire, or for England."