English cricket great James Anderson’s record-breaking Test cricket career is set to come to an end later this year following talks with coach Brendon McCullum, The Guardian reported on Friday.
The newspaper said that McCullum recently made a five-day visit to the UK, traveling 17,703km from his home in New Zealand to tell Anderson, over a round of golf, that the Test team is looking to the future.
Anderson, who turns 42 in July, is the most successful pace bowler in Test history with 700 wickets from an England record 197 matches.
Photo: AP
Only two spinners, Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan (800 Test wickets) and Australian Shane Warne are ahead of him on the all-time list of the format’s leading bowlers, with Anderson needing just nine more wickets to overhaul Warne’s tally of 708 Test wickets.
However, Anderson managed just 10 wickets in four of England’s five Tests during a 4-1 series loss in India concluded in March.
He has taken just 15 wickets in his past eight Tests at an expensive average of 50.8 in the past 12 months, with McCullum keen to refresh England’s attack ahead of the 2025-2026 Ashes series in Australia.
It was not clear from The Guardian report if Anderson will be granted a farewell Test or if he has played his last red-ball match for England. England do not play a Test again until July when they begin a three-match series against the West Indies.
That is followed by a Sri Lanka series starts at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Lancashire hero Anderson’s home ground.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS