A crying shame: Swann doesn’t want Anderson to be wasted away coaching ‘women's’ teams

Former England spinner Graeme Swann wants James Anderson to get involved with the senior national team as a head coach or bowling coach instead of whiling away his time coaching women’s national team or counties’ second elevens ‘to earn the stripes’.

“If Jimmy Anderson finishes playing cricket and they make him do England Women, or Lancashire seconds or something like that, to get his stripes, it will be the biggest crying shame in the world,” Swaan told The Cricket Analyst.

This statement of his sure to draw ire from the people who feel passionate about the game and especially the women’s game, that too in teh times when ECB is making all efforts to raise the women’s game to the same standard as that of the men’s.

“And before anyone cries foul, I’m not having a go at the England Women team, or the Lancashire second team. You know my point,” the 41-year-old was quick to race to teh damage control.

Reasoning that Anderson, who is currently the leading wicket-taker among the fast bowlers in teh world and only paceman to cross 600 scalps, would be fresh after he retires, Swann said, “The second he finishes, he is fresh, he knows all the players, he knows the game currently. He’s not had to take a few years off. He should go straight in as a head coach or head bowling coach for England.”

Swann, one of the most successful English spinners (410 international wickets in 178 games across formats) to have ever graced the field believes that he was not utilized properly after his retirement and doesn’t want Anderson to go through teh same process.

“Arguably, I should have been asked immediately to coach all the spinners [when I retired]. Because that was me, I was relevant, I knew the game, I knew everyone inside out. That’s when you can impart everything,” he said.

“You don’t get that if you’re a few years out of it. You lose that straightaway and become run of the mill, you become humdrum, which is a crying shame,” Swann added.

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