James Anderson for England in India (X.com)
James Anderson, the 41-year-old fast bowler from England who will probably go down as the greatest fast bowler in red-ball cricket, confirmed that he will hang up his boots from Test cricket this summer.
The Englishman will be in action when they take on the West Indies on July 10 at Lord’s in the first of the three-match Test series. That will be the last time when the veteran fast bowler will wear the national jersey for one last time.
"I'm going to miss walking out for England so much," Anderson said. "But I know the time is right to step aside and let others realise their dreams just like I got to, because there is no greater feeling."
Anderson recently held talks with England’s head coach for Tests, Brendon McCullum, who directly informed him that he, alongside skipper Ben Stokes, want to build a fast bowling attack for the future.
Anderson played for the first time for England way back in 2003. Since then, he has taken 700 wickets in 187 matches with the red cherry. Notably, no other pace bowler has picked up more wickets than him in the history of the game.
Overall, Anderson is third on the chart of all-time highest wicket-takers, only behind Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia's legendary spinner, Shane Warne.
However, Anderson has not clarified whether he would play for Lancashire in England’s domestic circuit.