The all-time leading wicket-taker for England and third most around the globe, James Anderson, finishing his career for the national side, has touched on his excitement to be part of a T20 league in the future, just to go through the electrifying atmosphere for the games, as he hasn’t experienced such in his international career.
James Anderson finished with 704 wickets in 188 games at an average of 26.45 and a strike rate of 56.8, celebrating 32 five-wicket hauls with a best bowling figure of 7/42 in an innings. Despite not being involved in the ODI format for more than a decade, the Burnley-boy finished as the highest wicket-taker for England in the format with 269 scalps.
The last T20I game for Anderson came in 2009 at Centurion against South Africa, whereas he has featured in only 44 games of the 20-over format, having captured 41 wickets at an average of 32.14.
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The veteran former pacer from Manchester spent most of his Test summer with the England side as the bowling coach for the red-ball team in the five Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka. He has also got an extension of the role for their Pakistan trip in late autumn.
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The 42-year-old spoke about his interest in being part of the upcoming season of The Hundred 2025, which would be a twist in the plot after giving the lion’s share of his career to the five-day format.
“I might be in a bit of denial because I’m well aware I won’t play for England again, but I’ve still not decided on my actual cricket career. There’s a bit of intrigue with the shorter formats because I’ve not played any franchise stuff before.” James Anderson expressed his wish during an interaction with the PA news agency. “Watching The Hundred this year, seeing the ball swing around, it makes me feel like I could do a job there.”
His comments have activated the Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States of America. The management has been trying their best to get some of the high-profile players in their tournament, as they found the services of Australian captain Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, and Travis Head.
The BBC report has claimed that Anderson could earn around 135000 euros (which is nearly INR 1.25 crore) for a short stint in the upcoming third season of the competition, which is now going to expand from 19 to 34 games in 2025.
The last 20-over game for James Anderson appeared in the T20 Blast competition in 2014 for the Roses, where he was smashed for 52 runs without any success against the Warwickshire in the final at Edgbaston. Since then, he has mostly aimed to put his focus towards the longest format of the game to remain fit.
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MLC, backed the influential figures such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, has made his desire clear to get the services of the England player in the league. The two winners of the 2019 ODI World Cup, Liam Plunkett and Jason Roy, have already featured in the competition.
Given his role with the England team as the red-ball coach and then taking some family time, besides an upcoming trip to Australia for the next Ashes in the 2025-26 winter, James Anderson’s decision will be interesting. But it will be incredible to see him still going on and put more challenges in the future.
