'Wasn't angry though my wife...'- James Anderson's shocking revelation on international retirement

It was a tap on the shoulder from the current England captain, Ben Stokes, and coach, Brendon McCullum, to force their most veteran player, James Anderson, to retire from international cricket. The reason was scratchy but straightforward from the management as they wanted to aim for a solid and young bowling attack for the upcoming winter’s Ashes 2025/26. The pacer, finally, said goodbye after the Lord’s Test at the start of the 2024 summer against the West Indies.

However, the 42-year-old has made an honest and shocking revelation on how he didn’t want to hang up his boots from the longest format. He finished his career with 704 red-ball wickets for England in 188 games and ended as the third leading wicket-taker in Tests behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.

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‘I’ll be honest, retirement was not in my head. I was still bowling as well as I ever had, and my body was in good shape. I was looking forward to the Ashes. It’s difficult. I’d been told that as long as I was good enough to warrant a place in the team, and fit enough, they’d keep picking me.’ Anderson expressed during a recent interview with The Times.

James Anderson makes shocking and honest revelation international retirement

The ECB managing director, Rob Key, kept Anderson in the scheme of things post the incident. He spent time with the national side as the mentor for a couple of international trips. The Burley-born featured for Lancashire in the County Championship 2025 clashes along with the T20 Blast.

‘I wasn’t angry, though my wife was; probably still is. But then, she has always been my biggest supporter. I retired from international cricket last year, but not entirely willingly. I had a meeting with the captain, coach, and director of the England cricket team in April, and they said they wanted to move in a different direction.’ The former pacer addressed during the interaction.

‘I’ve enjoyed dipping my toe in punditry and commentary, but I still have a lot of competitiveness in me that I need to quench. Coaching seems the inevitable way forward. I do still love cricket.’ Anderson revealed that he could remain in the plans of the Ashes trip to Australia for England as a mentor or bowling coach, given that he has a bucket full of experience down under.