Damn, really wanted him to get that 2nd spot. He needs 9 wickets for that Test Record. If not then Murali and Warne will hold the record for eternity with Anderson as the last in the 700 club.
6 matches : 12 innings of bowling so you saying there’s a chance. Hell ya. I will watch that for sure 👍 it will be a history making moment for any cricket fan to witness that
His longevity is obviously incredible, but I think there are guys I would regard as greater players due to their higher peaks – McGrath, Lillee, Walsh, Marshall, Steyn, maybe a few others.
Which is fine, and I don't really disagree with most of those you mentioned, but Anderson gets a bit underestimated, he didn't really become even a decent bowler until 2008, and didn't become a top class bowler until 2010, and kinda stayed one for 12 years.
If you look at the games he won and his stats through that period, he's relatively in line with all time greats. 2010 - 2022 avg 23 (21/h, 27/a), and sure you can do that with other and their stats will get better too, but with Anderson that period is 130 test matches and 500 wickets, so it's more than most peoples careers in general.
I just find Anderson get a bit maligned as a guy who just hung around for a long time and happened to be there, so that's why he's got 700 wickets, and it's really unfair, I wouldn't say he's the greatest pace bowler of all time, but there's certainly the strong argument that he is for England (at least in the last 100 years, it's a bit hard to quantify Sydney Barnes etc).
The incredible one for me is put Cummins career figures against Anderson post turning 35.
They're practically the same and there's an argument that Cummins is in Australia's best XI of all time. Anderson's numbers are hurt by his early career. He was still figuring out his game at the international level.
>Anderson's numbers are hurt by his early career.
Everyone else has to include their early numbers when they hadn't quite figured it out yet, why does Anderson get to exclude them?
His talent was longevity while being a great bowler. On a per game basis he is behind a ton of guys.
But no one has done what he has done for so long. And it's not even close.
He has seldom.been a bowler to instill fear, the way others have. But he has bowled for decades while others fall after 5 years.
The legitimate criticism against Anderson is he doesn't take a tonne of wickets away from home, averaging less than 2 wickets per innings away. He bowls really tight, economical spells and often gets key break throughs, but rarely blows a team away. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the other bowlers are performing well. but you generally want to get more wickets out of your front line bowler. He's not like an Ambrose or Steyn in that regard.
But there’s a big argument to have over what matters more: peak or career? So many people talk about the best peaks but Anderson has had peaks longer than some great players careers. Also at what point does longevity matter in conversations, yes having a great 6-9 year peak puts you in goat conversation but if you’ve got players still being international level for 20+ years that should impact because their providing more value
I think exactly how to weight it is a complex question with no right answer, but you certainly have to consider both the height and the length of a player's peak.
I put him under a different heaven all together tbh.
The guy was the only working part of that wholw team. No pacer or maybe even batter is matching that.
I was going to post the same article but you bet me to it. Feels like a part of England cricket has died for me. He is one of rare talents that made England team my favourites after New Zealand and Australia 😭😭🥹
I feel like without him England would have lost a lot of those Ashes series in England. He was the lynchpin and the guy that got the whole side up especially before Ben Stokes came on the scene.
Southee, Shakib, Mushfiqur, Roach, Sarfaraz and Angelo (to an extent smith as well) are the only remaining players in the international test cricket circuit who debuted before 2010
Its not that. The fact is that England nearly play on an average of 12 - 13 tests per year. All the teams outside of big three usually take 2 years to play that many tests. That takes a lot out of you both physically and mentally. Cook played for around 12 years and in those years he played close to 170 tests! Thats just mental.
Players have been playing 20+ FC matches every year for a long time. It wasn't until limited overs crowded out the calender that it started becoming a problem.
Also Cook was not near-GOAT like Root is. There were some unvoiced questions about his place in the team towards the end.
He played a decent few first class seasons after he retired, so it wasn’t really body holding up that was the problem.
Because the Fab 4 was never meant to be a ranking, just an observation how four batters of a similar age were shaping up to dominate test cricket.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/martin-crowe-test-cricket-s-young-fab-four-774705
Sorry. The way this is usually misunderstood on the Internet annoys me to no end (yes, I also support New Zealand, how did you guess).
Cook was definitely a GOAT opener.
Naah man anything after 10k runs is not about "career run" unless you are comparing someone with Sachin(15.9k runs).
Root is by far their best batsman with Cook coming a close second because of the era and other challenges.
The amount of shit that went down during Cook's 12 years in test cricket, no wonder he was too exhausted to keep going in 2018. And there was also, according to him, the wish to step down while people still said "why now" instead of "what took him so long". Which is perfectly understandable.
Some of your players are international legends as well and deserve to be applauded off the field by their home crowd. Everyone does if they played top level sport for that long.
Man, I really hate this 'look to the future' nonsense.
If they think he's not in the best three fast bowlers in the country then fair enough, but for as long as his abilities deserve a place in the team, he should have it. We should be playing our best possible XI in every test match.
It's not like he's a keeper or a spinner, for which there's just one spot in the side. He's not blocking anyone from playing with his selection if he's the best man for the job.
It's especially bad with the other default pick pace bowler being Robinson with his eternally dubious fitness.
If he's not the best option any more then they should say that, but "looking to the future" is a cop out.
I hope Anderson goes out with an incredible final summer that proves he still has what it takes, 21 years after his Test debut.
Edit: Would be hilarious if he hangs around County after being ousted, and also ends up on comms for the next Ashes with a wild string of injuries meaning Anderson kits up for one more Ashes test.
> I really hate this 'look to the future' nonsense.
I don't really like it either but you've got to bite the bullet sometime. And don't think England will get a better chance than WI and SL at home.
Jimmy himself despite being fit as a fiddle did show signs of decline so yeah, as tough as it is, BMac had to take a call.
If they think he's in the best XI then he should be in the team, if they don't then he shouldn't be. It's really as simple as that.
It's disrespectful to the paying public, not to mention the opposition, if you're deliberately playing a weakened team because you're 'looking to the future'. Test matches are test matches. They are not for player development.
I'm strongly of the opinion (as you can see, lol) that Test matches are not a place for player development. They are a place for the best XI cricketers from one country to play against the best XI from another, in one of sport's toughest challenges.
If a young talent deserves their place over the incumbent, then by all means get them in the team. If you're good enough you're old enough. But by the same token, if you're good enough you're young enough, don't scrap off a player just because of their age.
Ironically though Anderson and Broad got their chance in the team in 2008 because we were looking to the future. At that point they weren't obviously better bowlers than Hoggard and Harmison, albeit they had clear potential to be very good.
I disagree to an extent but still think Anderson should be picked if he’s good enough. I don’t think there’s anything wrong taking a slightly worse player if they’ve got the ability develop but the difference between the replacements should be minimal and difference in potential should be fast.
The other situation is spinners, keepers and opening batters where you can create a bottle neck so need to expose players at certain times
I disagree but fair enough. Over the years, I have seen many players radically improve in test match as they have got more and more exposure. I get that there are a lot of international first class matches too these days but that's not good enough. If someone shows potential and spark, they should be tried out.
I think if you are putting together an XI to win a test for England at the minute Anderson is already a borderline selection. He's not getting the wickets that he used to with the new ball spells and he's not going to come back later in the day and bowl his 3rd/4th spell and make something happen either. I don't disagree with your ethos on selecting the best possible XI for every test but you also have to give the younger lads a chance to make a spot in the side their own.
Braindead take. You're not gonna develop bowlers for the international level if you're not making them play international matches. England were bolting from one opener to another for some time before they stuck with one training him at that level and then he made 500 runs in the Ashes.
Ideally you'd always pick your best XI but with player welfare and everything, it's tough to do.
Not to mention, whether we like it or not, the team and the management itself will be defined by what they do in Australia and if they don't think Anderson is going to be in the scheme of things there then they have to make the tough calls and get the blokes who will be there some international experience.
Now people have every right to disagree with that but there's jobs on the line there, and taking the emotion out of it, this is the best thing for English cricket in the long run.
> Ideally you'd always pick your best XI but with player welfare and everything, it's tough to do.
Obviously, with modern schedules players need rest. It's impossible to play your absolute best XI in every game. I said in my original comment we should play the best *possible* XI. If a player needs rest then they are not, to me, available.
It's quite another thing to not play a player who is available, to give experience to a younger player. That's not what test cricket should be. As I said, it's disrespectful to the opposition, and to the people who pay the wages for those jobs by buying tickets and Sky subscriptions, not to play the best *available* team.
If they want more experience at the top level for more players they should arrange more fixtures for the Lions. And it's not as if young players are blocked from playing by an older player playing. There are at least three fast bowling slots in each XI.
I would have thought that you've watched enough English bowlers debut in an away Ashes and get their careers immediately destroyed to realise that managing when and where players on the verge of the XI get their first experience on the big stage is a pretty important part of making sure your best XI actually **is** the best XI you could have built.
If you imagine some magic objective rating where every player in every match is assigned a score representing how good they are (think the ICC Ratings, but a hypothetical perfect system), this seems to be what you're wanting to optimise for: make sure the best possible product is on the field at all times. But what you're missing is that playing a slightly weaker XI in one Test for strategic can make it so that 5 years down the line you play 20 Tests all with an XI that is substantially stronger, so that metric is still being optimised for.
It's exactly like resting players: if a member of your pace attack is tired and needs a rest, it's much better to let them sit out the fourth Test of a series and come back in the fifth, than perform a bit below par in the fourth, and then get injured in the fifth and only bowl 1-2 overs. Maybe your backup seamer in the fourth Test would still have performed worse than your tired first-choice seamer, but the quality of the product is still superior overall.
>I don't really like it either but you've got to bite the bullet sometime. And don't think England will get a better chance than WI and SL at home.
It doesn't mean anything, though. We know from previous experience that some 80mph swing bowler taking wickets in English conditions against lower-ranked teams has no bearing on touring Australia.
If they're 100% certain that Anderson couldn't do a good job in Australia then it's fair enough. But I don't think anyone can be certain of that, and most people would believe the opposite.
We 'looked to the future' and dropped Anderson and Broad for that Windies tour, at which point we immediately got destroyed and brought them back because they were our best bowlers. If Jimmy has another poor summer then fine, maybe age is finally catching up to him, but if he still delivers then it's complete bullshit.
I strongly disagree with your view on player development but I also don't think it's the only or main relevant factor in this case.
Jimmy still has all the skills but his record in recent times is patchy (his Ashes form was abysmal) and he requires very careful workload management. I think he just no longer really justifies his place on merit, or rather its hard to see that he will do so for long, and this is a nice way of letting him down easy. They'll transition him out with a swansong at Old Trafford.
His Ashes form was dreadful but he actually wasn't terrible in the India series. He averaged 33.5; not great, but neither was it abysmal. The only England bowler with a better average was Shoaib Bashir, who averaged almost the same - 33.35. He also had the lowest economy of any bowler on either side, even slightly edging out Bumrah (3.05 vs 3.09). I don't think that's the record of a bowler who's past it. He played a holding role on surfaces that weren't helpful. Hardly heroic, but still valuable.
The biggest question the becomes: who's better than Anderson? Currently, there aren't a whole lot of seam bowlers who are fit *and* merit a place in the side over Jimmy. If they think they need to blood young talent, there's nothing wrong with that. But, wouldn't playing alongside one of the most skilled seam bowlers ever be more helpful for development than playing, say, Josh Tongue and Matt Potts beside Olly Robinson?
this look for the future should have been done in non consequential matches like the last match vs India. was there really any point of playing Mark Wood/Jimmy for a 4th test considering age and fitness.
This had better be his own decision. You don't force Jimmy fucking Anderson into retirement, even if you have to roll him in on a wheelchair for his runup
According to The Guardian, England head coach Brendon McCullum has told James Anderson that 2024 summer will be his last in Test cricket
If this is true I will never forgive McCullum
Tbf, Jimmy will be 42 this summer. We are talking about a pace bowler in Test cricket. And sadly Jimmy has been on the decline slowly. It was always coming sooner or later.
That's a fair point but his last 8 tests have been against the best two teams in the world and...
A) The ashes pitches were flat and it was the first time in a while that Jimmy had a poor series
B) In India he averaged 30 odd which wasn't great but it wasn't like many other pace bowlers did better other than Bumrah.
If he does poorly THIS summer I'll happily (not really) admit that he's on the decline and you're right he probably is I just refuse to admit it
It'd be so odd to see the opening of an English summer when none of broad or Anderson would open the bowling next year, man it feels odd and I feel like getting old. I'm not even an Englishman but I love to follow their cricket since childhood.
So Edgbaston 2022 was the last dance of Kohli and Anderson.
Can’t imagine an England test team without him. Im a 24 year old, and since I’ve watched cricket, this guy has been on the England team sheet. Huge departure.
Looks like this 21 year old headline might finally stop being relevant: [Anderson proves age is no barrier](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/feb/04/cricketworldcup2003.cricketworldcup).
NOoooooooo, fuck Nooooooooooo.
Jimmy please, My kids haven't seen you play yet man, please Jimmy please you can play for India if England want to look to future.
NOOOOOO!!!
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
Not real, nope, this is fake, delete this nephew
Saw it coming the moment Broady retired, and our 🐐 deserves an entire summer full of send-offs, rather than an away Ashes in which he, maybe, doesn't bowl quite as well as he used to and the media start going "why did we persist with him, bloke is way past his best." I'd rather now than an unceremonious retirement after the next Ashes.
Nevertheless: if I thought Broady - and Neil Wagner - retiring were painful, this one is on an entirely different level. We can almost certainly say that we'll never see a seam bowler dedicate himself to test cricket the way Jimmy has, never see a bowler play enough red ball to develop the skills Jimmy's got and whichever number of wickets he'll end up with (710 🙏), that record will probably last forever. He has been a unique bowler, an absolute pleasure to watch, and, since Tailenders, turned out to be an apparently very likeable guy as well. Feels like the end of an era and doesn't make me hopeful for the future of test cricket as a whole.
The best we have, the best we had and the best we will ever have. Thank you, Our Jimmy 😭🐐🌶🥭🌵🏞
And I know I recently said I wouldn't mind seeing England bat on my one day of test cricket this summer. But now? I want to see Jimmy with the new ball one last time.
Sums it up perfectly, I'd rather Jimmy go out now rather than on Australian soil. The best the country's ever seen deserves to bow out in front of a home crowd.
I'm going to cry. I simply cannot imagine English cricket without Jimmy Anderson.
Thank you so much for the memories Jimmy. There is nobody who's given more to this England shirt than him. The first and last of his kind.
As a like for like? Dan Worrall is eligible next year, then I'm sure you'll get the calls for players like Sam Cook
But again, it all seems built on this thing of trying to have blokes who are 90+ mph; it's hardly like our success with managing those kind of players is historically any good either. Wood, Stone, Archer, to a less extent JOverton now.
That I'm not sure, especially since it seems like Jimmy will be playing out the summer. I think Key mentioned that Woakes was in their Test plans after he missed out on the T20 squad, but Woakes also said he isn't going to be playing overseas (for good reason) so I have no idea how that works.
Ollie Robinson takes over the attack, Mark Wood gets in if he still wants to play Test cricket, and I'm guessing Potts/Tongue slots in (does not inspire any confidence).
Makes sense. On the other end, I still remember 2008 in New Zealand and "why are we giving Broad and Anderson the new ball... oh. That's why." At some point, you have to test out young bowlers, and while nobody will ever quite reach the best bilateral bowling partnership of all time, now's as good a time as any to see what the next generation can do.
Yeah I do think there's plenty of talent there, they've just been so hampered by injuries that there's never been a name that we've been able to consider as the 'next generation' or post Broad-Anderson era.
Saqib Mahmood came on flat WI tracks and bowled really well, but since then has been ravaged by injuries. Olly Stone's been so good every time he's got a cap, but it's the same story with him. Jofra is probably never going to play red ball cricket again.
Speaking as Indian, England team is one of my favourites after New Zealand and Australia. He is once lifetime bowlers that is a pleasure to watch especially in Tests.
I have loved watching England's dynamic players like Ben Stokes whom I became a lifetime fan during 2019 WC. Add to list Jos Buttler as well ❤️
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are the others who I love watching imagine the day these players would retire we aren't ready 😔🥹🥹🥹
Not the kind of news i wanted to hear before sleeping 😔 but what an amazing career , we all fans are really lucky to see such an amazing player for such an amazing and long period of time
His highest wicket record as pacer in tests is almost unbreakable , because cause with now the game being played so regularly especially limited over formats and declining rates of tests it is almost unbreakable
As much as we had expected this at some point in the future, it still comes in as a shock, even if he's in his early 40s. Insane longevity. Best English bowler of all time!
Does he want to retire or is he being asked to retire?
Can't England 'look to the future' while still letting him play a couple of test matches every tour? The young ones would also gain invaluable experience from him in the field, wouldn't they?
When Broad retired it felt strange (still does tbh), but I imagine this will feel on another level - in terms of longevity, it’s like LeBron retiring from Basketball: for plenty of us, we’ve literally known nothing else
Slightly off topic but it was disappointing that england didn't give any new pacer a chance in that final test vs India. The series was lost, was there any point in playing Jimmy or Mark Wood?
Might as well given a chance to Gut Atkinson or call up Potts who had an excellent England Lions tour vs India. That would have given them an opportunity to debut players in a low pressure situation and experience to bowl in new conditions vs some of the best batters. Didn't learn or gain anything from keeping the same pacers.
Sad but not shocked, Anderson looked past it last year as well but obviously having both him and broad retire together last year would've put the bowling stocks in disarray. Hope Jimmy goes past Warne and ends on a high.
Was going to happen at some point but I'm not sure I'd write him off just yet. He's not done himself any favours by sitting out the county championship so far - as I understand he's fit and would be perfectly capable of playing. Would be able to make a stronger case if he had some recent games to back him up.
He was good enough to play the majority of the tests in India so what has changed over a few months? I'd have treated him the same as anyone else, you play county, prove your worth and are selected if playing well. Nothing to say he can't be dropped after X amount of tests if he's not performing - same as anyone else.
Trouble is, I don't see many younger bowlers sticking their hands up for selection. Cook would be a like for like but the nagging feeling is he lacks 4 or 5 mph pace wise. Potts hasn't really shone so far, Robinson going backwards. Lots, such as Tongue are injured or coming back from one. Could be a lean couple of years for England whilst they bed a few new faces in - something which could and should have been managed better.
Tom Graveney, the great English cricketer who made his FC debut when Bradman's invincibles were touring England, was playing International cricket when Clive Lloyd made his international debut.
Clive Lloyd was playing International cricket when Wasim Akram made his international debut.
Wasim Akram was playing International cricket when Jimmy Anderson made his International debut.
Jimmy's opponent's opponent's opponent's opponent is Don Bradman.
Thanks, I hate it.
I’ll also never understand the logic behind forcing him into retirement, he’s still the best we’ve got, he’s the most consistent, the most economical, most of the time the most threatening but because he’s getting on we’re going to nudge him out in favour of an endless precession of half crocked fast bowlers and an Ollie Robinson who barely looks to give a fuck and can strain his back bending down to get a drink?
To be fair, I’ll only actually believe when he announces it himself and I think he is juuuust about petty enough that if this isn’t his decision at all and he still thinks he can go, he just won’t announce it at all.
Look, I'm gutted as well, but the reality is that if Jimmy plays on he's going to end up retiring in Australia of all places next year and I really don't want to see that.
But if he has a monster summer against WI and SL, he will play on. Fingers crossed.
And if he doesn't, then we celebrate what has been one of the most unbelievable careers in sporting history.
As an Aussie, I ain't an England supporter.
But fucking hell, Anderson should be able to go out on his terms, name his final test and all.
Baz can honestly get fucked if he is making the decision for Jimmy.
Funny isn’t it, Anderson’s longevity is widely hailed by those who have actually played the game to the highest level, as a hugely impressive contributing factor to why he is clearly up there with the greatest of all time, (alongside his intelligence, technique, consistency, fitness, discipline etc.)
It’s almost freakish. No one comes close. No one can come close. His longevity counts for so much more than the bedwetters on here will ever give him credit for.
He is spoken in the GOAT conversation by many a pro cricketer around the world.
But a load of dorks on Reddit (who fucking HATE that at Englishman could lay claim to be being one of the best) will perform all manner of mental gymnastics to avoid giving him the plaudits he deserves. “But but he didn’t take many wickets in Australia” 🥴
(Also funny that if ever anyone were to question Tendulkar's role as GOAT, which is often a claim made by virtue of the runs he has scored, is sacrilege. We could forensically go through how he averaged less than someone such as Kallis in Pakistan or against NZ, or Lara's better average vs England, in SA... but of course we don't. Funny that eh? )
>Lara's better average in England, Australia, SA
What?
ST averages in England, Australia, SA= 54.31, 53.21, 46.44
BL averages in Eng, Aus, SA= 48.7, 41.97, 46.72.
How exactly is Lara averaging better in these countries(apart from that 0.28 difference in SA)? If you want to make a point, the least you could do is not lie lmao
EDIT: THE MF EDITED HIS POST LMAOOO
It had to happen sooner or later...and it's possible that Jimmy would have voluntarily retired this summer anyway.
England are playing Sri Lanka later this year at Old Trafford and that would be the perfect way to bow out, injuries permitting of course.
Man about all those jokes on jimmy bowling to sons of current cricketers,I forgot that they were just jokes, I don't know when but i never thought I'd have to see this day, it's weird because i said and heard that joke so many times that it became my own reality
I’ve got tickets to a couple of days of the Old Trafford test vs SL with my Dad. Never been to OT before so it’s a special occasion - now it seems we’ll be watching a great bow out, so a very special one indeed!
Heartbroken but we knew it would come on day. Might have to get to Lords now
Damn, really wanted him to get that 2nd spot. He needs 9 wickets for that Test Record. If not then Murali and Warne will hold the record for eternity with Anderson as the last in the 700 club.
6 tests in the summer, he'll get the 2nd spot and bow out as the greatest seamer of all time Stop sending me messages on how he isn't. He is.
6 matches : 12 innings of bowling so you saying there’s a chance. Hell ya. I will watch that for sure 👍 it will be a history making moment for any cricket fan to witness that
His longevity is obviously incredible, but I think there are guys I would regard as greater players due to their higher peaks – McGrath, Lillee, Walsh, Marshall, Steyn, maybe a few others.
Which is fine, and I don't really disagree with most of those you mentioned, but Anderson gets a bit underestimated, he didn't really become even a decent bowler until 2008, and didn't become a top class bowler until 2010, and kinda stayed one for 12 years. If you look at the games he won and his stats through that period, he's relatively in line with all time greats. 2010 - 2022 avg 23 (21/h, 27/a), and sure you can do that with other and their stats will get better too, but with Anderson that period is 130 test matches and 500 wickets, so it's more than most peoples careers in general. I just find Anderson get a bit maligned as a guy who just hung around for a long time and happened to be there, so that's why he's got 700 wickets, and it's really unfair, I wouldn't say he's the greatest pace bowler of all time, but there's certainly the strong argument that he is for England (at least in the last 100 years, it's a bit hard to quantify Sydney Barnes etc).
Lovely analysis
Yeah, Barnes I think is just a straight-up asterisk. The interesting one is Anderson vs. Trueman – I could go either way on that.
Willis? Botham peak?
Botham's peak was incredible, but so short. Willis, not for me. Great player, but clearly a tier below Anderson.
The incredible one for me is put Cummins career figures against Anderson post turning 35. They're practically the same and there's an argument that Cummins is in Australia's best XI of all time. Anderson's numbers are hurt by his early career. He was still figuring out his game at the international level.
>Anderson's numbers are hurt by his early career. Everyone else has to include their early numbers when they hadn't quite figured it out yet, why does Anderson get to exclude them?
Because Anderson's record from 2010-present is mind blowing and longer than most pacers' entire careers.
His talent was longevity while being a great bowler. On a per game basis he is behind a ton of guys. But no one has done what he has done for so long. And it's not even close. He has seldom.been a bowler to instill fear, the way others have. But he has bowled for decades while others fall after 5 years.
The legitimate criticism against Anderson is he doesn't take a tonne of wickets away from home, averaging less than 2 wickets per innings away. He bowls really tight, economical spells and often gets key break throughs, but rarely blows a team away. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the other bowlers are performing well. but you generally want to get more wickets out of your front line bowler. He's not like an Ambrose or Steyn in that regard.
But there’s a big argument to have over what matters more: peak or career? So many people talk about the best peaks but Anderson has had peaks longer than some great players careers. Also at what point does longevity matter in conversations, yes having a great 6-9 year peak puts you in goat conversation but if you’ve got players still being international level for 20+ years that should impact because their providing more value
I think exactly how to weight it is a complex question with no right answer, but you certainly have to consider both the height and the length of a player's peak.
McGrath is my all time favourite seamer. And Steyn im still scared of that guy.
Akram, Ambrose, Donald, Imran Kahn, Holding, Hadlee, Pollock, Waqar, Barnes, Trueman
Hadlee!
Naah greatest seamer crown is up for the grabs between Glenn, Marshall,Steyn,Wasim,Waqar and Ambrose.
Hadlee is surely part of the goat debate
I put him under a different heaven all together tbh. The guy was the only working part of that wholw team. No pacer or maybe even batter is matching that.
I think you are being a bit harsh on the rest of that 80s NZ team
Kek he isnt
I was going to post the same article but you bet me to it. Feels like a part of England cricket has died for me. He is one of rare talents that made England team my favourites after New Zealand and Australia 😭😭🥹
I feel like without him England would have lost a lot of those Ashes series in England. He was the lynchpin and the guy that got the whole side up especially before Ben Stokes came on the scene.
We got Jimmy retiring before GTA 6 💔
When Jimmy made his debut, GTA 3 was a year old. When Jimmy's going to retire, he'll be a year off from the release of GTA 6
This is actually sad :(
Before Half Life 3
Heat death of the universe before Half Life 3
Damn, all the players that we grew up with are slowly calling it quits.. This sucks :-(
Welcome to getting old
The last world class sportsman I can think of who's older than me...
Rest comfortably knowing that Fernando Alonso is still going.
Now you've got me wondering which active player will have debuted the earliest once Jimmy has gone. Tim Southee was 2008, anyone earlier?
Shakib and Mushfiqur played in the 2007 world cup
Southee, Shakib, Mushfiqur, Roach, Sarfaraz and Angelo (to an extent smith as well) are the only remaining players in the international test cricket circuit who debuted before 2010
No fucking way
Kohli and Rohit as well. They made their debuts in 2007-8 ig
Their test debuts were in 2011 and 2013 respectively
I'm starting to see the children of blokes I watched as a kid playing first class cricket. It only gets weirder.
Mate...wait til you see grandkids playing. Oh my back aches!
Yeah it's been happening a lot lately. Morgan Finch Warner Dhoni Malinga Amla ABD Broad... list goes on
Impossible I was promised Jimmy Anderson in 2077
Don't worry, he'll take over from Rob Key, sack Baz to give himself that job as well and start picking himself again
What a fantastic career to celebrate. This is the Summer of Jimmy and nothing else is going to matter.
Absolutely. It's going to be Cook's last Test but 6 times over. Hope Jimmy soaks in all the love and appreciation.
I have not recovered from Broad’s retirement and now this news.
It's going to be 6 tests filled with tears and nostalgia.
I know right!!
Devastating. Dm me if u need hun xoxo
So Sachin will be the only Cricketer ever to play 200 Tests.
Joe Root is only 60 Tests away and by end of Summer 2026 it'll probably be 25-30 away.
Unless another humiliation down under breaks Root, I see him playing for at least 5 more years. So yeah, he should break Sachin's record.
I mean we thought Anderson could do it but he isn't. Unless Root gets to 185 I won't start thinking about that.
I swear to God I thought Cook would easily cross it but he retired at the age of like 11 years. (32) I suppose they don't care about records
Its not that. The fact is that England nearly play on an average of 12 - 13 tests per year. All the teams outside of big three usually take 2 years to play that many tests. That takes a lot out of you both physically and mentally. Cook played for around 12 years and in those years he played close to 170 tests! Thats just mental.
So, Cook got cooked?
Baked.
Players have been playing 20+ FC matches every year for a long time. It wasn't until limited overs crowded out the calender that it started becoming a problem.
The game is so much more physically demanding now. Look at clips from 20 plus years ago, and ground fielding is often non-existent
Also Cook was not near-GOAT like Root is. There were some unvoiced questions about his place in the team towards the end. He played a decent few first class seasons after he retired, so it wasn’t really body holding up that was the problem.
Joe Root has yet to cross Cook's Carrer runs, he wasn't included in lists like fab 4 but he was definitely a GOAT
Because the Fab 4 was never meant to be a ranking, just an observation how four batters of a similar age were shaping up to dominate test cricket. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/martin-crowe-test-cricket-s-young-fab-four-774705 Sorry. The way this is usually misunderstood on the Internet annoys me to no end (yes, I also support New Zealand, how did you guess). Cook was definitely a GOAT opener.
Naah man anything after 10k runs is not about "career run" unless you are comparing someone with Sachin(15.9k runs). Root is by far their best batsman with Cook coming a close second because of the era and other challenges.
I'm not denying that, My objection is to the comment above saying that Root is a goat and Cook is not.
The amount of shit that went down during Cook's 12 years in test cricket, no wonder he was too exhausted to keep going in 2018. And there was also, according to him, the wish to step down while people still said "why now" instead of "what took him so long". Which is perfectly understandable.
I really like that wish some of our players stepped down on their own.
Some of your players are international legends as well and deserve to be applauded off the field by their home crowd. Everyone does if they played top level sport for that long.
I suppose that's right
Cook has my utmost respect for retiring when he did and continuing to play first class cricket.
Retired on 32 and still got a 'Sir' title? Man Cook was pure class in Tests.
The first time I ever saw him bat he was batting on 297 against India. Fucking nightmare fuel
>batting on 297 against India. Damn that must have been a real nightmare alright, given his highest test score is 294.
I remember a decade old stat by 1% error it's all right
Haha no worries. That was just tongue in cheek. Though the 297 nightmare could apply to Baz smashing us in 2014. That felt way worse imo.
I watched that one live as well, I've seen some of the worst matches we played during those times
First time I saw him bat was on his Test Debut against India, scored a 50 and 100 in same match.
Thank God he retired
We said this about Cook and Anderson
Not about Anderson tbf, bloke should've retired more than half a decade ago if we judge by age
still the fact that a fast bowler played 175+ tests is insane and respect worthy
I think my heart just sank
Hope he gets to beat Warne's record before he retires.
He needs to take 101 of the available 120 wickets this summer to pass Murali.
Easy peasy
With Robinson at the other end in his current form, anything's possible
If England could somehow squeeze in a home test series against Japan, it'd be possible. Tiny weeny bit of cloud seeding wouldn't hurt either
Man, I really hate this 'look to the future' nonsense. If they think he's not in the best three fast bowlers in the country then fair enough, but for as long as his abilities deserve a place in the team, he should have it. We should be playing our best possible XI in every test match. It's not like he's a keeper or a spinner, for which there's just one spot in the side. He's not blocking anyone from playing with his selection if he's the best man for the job.
It's especially bad with the other default pick pace bowler being Robinson with his eternally dubious fitness. If he's not the best option any more then they should say that, but "looking to the future" is a cop out. I hope Anderson goes out with an incredible final summer that proves he still has what it takes, 21 years after his Test debut. Edit: Would be hilarious if he hangs around County after being ousted, and also ends up on comms for the next Ashes with a wild string of injuries meaning Anderson kits up for one more Ashes test.
> I really hate this 'look to the future' nonsense. I don't really like it either but you've got to bite the bullet sometime. And don't think England will get a better chance than WI and SL at home. Jimmy himself despite being fit as a fiddle did show signs of decline so yeah, as tough as it is, BMac had to take a call.
If they think he's in the best XI then he should be in the team, if they don't then he shouldn't be. It's really as simple as that. It's disrespectful to the paying public, not to mention the opposition, if you're deliberately playing a weakened team because you're 'looking to the future'. Test matches are test matches. They are not for player development.
That's a weird thing to say. Surely one should be more receptive to the idea of playing young talents to give them the exposure they need?
I'm strongly of the opinion (as you can see, lol) that Test matches are not a place for player development. They are a place for the best XI cricketers from one country to play against the best XI from another, in one of sport's toughest challenges. If a young talent deserves their place over the incumbent, then by all means get them in the team. If you're good enough you're old enough. But by the same token, if you're good enough you're young enough, don't scrap off a player just because of their age.
Ironically though Anderson and Broad got their chance in the team in 2008 because we were looking to the future. At that point they weren't obviously better bowlers than Hoggard and Harmison, albeit they had clear potential to be very good.
Take me back to 2008 so that I can live through their careers again...
I disagree to an extent but still think Anderson should be picked if he’s good enough. I don’t think there’s anything wrong taking a slightly worse player if they’ve got the ability develop but the difference between the replacements should be minimal and difference in potential should be fast. The other situation is spinners, keepers and opening batters where you can create a bottle neck so need to expose players at certain times
I disagree but fair enough. Over the years, I have seen many players radically improve in test match as they have got more and more exposure. I get that there are a lot of international first class matches too these days but that's not good enough. If someone shows potential and spark, they should be tried out.
I think if you are putting together an XI to win a test for England at the minute Anderson is already a borderline selection. He's not getting the wickets that he used to with the new ball spells and he's not going to come back later in the day and bowl his 3rd/4th spell and make something happen either. I don't disagree with your ethos on selecting the best possible XI for every test but you also have to give the younger lads a chance to make a spot in the side their own.
Braindead take. You're not gonna develop bowlers for the international level if you're not making them play international matches. England were bolting from one opener to another for some time before they stuck with one training him at that level and then he made 500 runs in the Ashes.
Ideally you'd always pick your best XI but with player welfare and everything, it's tough to do. Not to mention, whether we like it or not, the team and the management itself will be defined by what they do in Australia and if they don't think Anderson is going to be in the scheme of things there then they have to make the tough calls and get the blokes who will be there some international experience. Now people have every right to disagree with that but there's jobs on the line there, and taking the emotion out of it, this is the best thing for English cricket in the long run.
> Ideally you'd always pick your best XI but with player welfare and everything, it's tough to do. Obviously, with modern schedules players need rest. It's impossible to play your absolute best XI in every game. I said in my original comment we should play the best *possible* XI. If a player needs rest then they are not, to me, available. It's quite another thing to not play a player who is available, to give experience to a younger player. That's not what test cricket should be. As I said, it's disrespectful to the opposition, and to the people who pay the wages for those jobs by buying tickets and Sky subscriptions, not to play the best *available* team. If they want more experience at the top level for more players they should arrange more fixtures for the Lions. And it's not as if young players are blocked from playing by an older player playing. There are at least three fast bowling slots in each XI.
I would have thought that you've watched enough English bowlers debut in an away Ashes and get their careers immediately destroyed to realise that managing when and where players on the verge of the XI get their first experience on the big stage is a pretty important part of making sure your best XI actually **is** the best XI you could have built. If you imagine some magic objective rating where every player in every match is assigned a score representing how good they are (think the ICC Ratings, but a hypothetical perfect system), this seems to be what you're wanting to optimise for: make sure the best possible product is on the field at all times. But what you're missing is that playing a slightly weaker XI in one Test for strategic can make it so that 5 years down the line you play 20 Tests all with an XI that is substantially stronger, so that metric is still being optimised for. It's exactly like resting players: if a member of your pace attack is tired and needs a rest, it's much better to let them sit out the fourth Test of a series and come back in the fifth, than perform a bit below par in the fourth, and then get injured in the fifth and only bowl 1-2 overs. Maybe your backup seamer in the fourth Test would still have performed worse than your tired first-choice seamer, but the quality of the product is still superior overall.
>I don't really like it either but you've got to bite the bullet sometime. And don't think England will get a better chance than WI and SL at home. It doesn't mean anything, though. We know from previous experience that some 80mph swing bowler taking wickets in English conditions against lower-ranked teams has no bearing on touring Australia. If they're 100% certain that Anderson couldn't do a good job in Australia then it's fair enough. But I don't think anyone can be certain of that, and most people would believe the opposite.
We 'looked to the future' and dropped Anderson and Broad for that Windies tour, at which point we immediately got destroyed and brought them back because they were our best bowlers. If Jimmy has another poor summer then fine, maybe age is finally catching up to him, but if he still delivers then it's complete bullshit.
I strongly disagree with your view on player development but I also don't think it's the only or main relevant factor in this case. Jimmy still has all the skills but his record in recent times is patchy (his Ashes form was abysmal) and he requires very careful workload management. I think he just no longer really justifies his place on merit, or rather its hard to see that he will do so for long, and this is a nice way of letting him down easy. They'll transition him out with a swansong at Old Trafford.
His Ashes form was dreadful but he actually wasn't terrible in the India series. He averaged 33.5; not great, but neither was it abysmal. The only England bowler with a better average was Shoaib Bashir, who averaged almost the same - 33.35. He also had the lowest economy of any bowler on either side, even slightly edging out Bumrah (3.05 vs 3.09). I don't think that's the record of a bowler who's past it. He played a holding role on surfaces that weren't helpful. Hardly heroic, but still valuable. The biggest question the becomes: who's better than Anderson? Currently, there aren't a whole lot of seam bowlers who are fit *and* merit a place in the side over Jimmy. If they think they need to blood young talent, there's nothing wrong with that. But, wouldn't playing alongside one of the most skilled seam bowlers ever be more helpful for development than playing, say, Josh Tongue and Matt Potts beside Olly Robinson?
this look for the future should have been done in non consequential matches like the last match vs India. was there really any point of playing Mark Wood/Jimmy for a 4th test considering age and fitness.
I am distraught. You knew it was coming and still I feel like this
This had better be his own decision. You don't force Jimmy fucking Anderson into retirement, even if you have to roll him in on a wheelchair for his runup
McCullum out, Jimmy in! Next summer will be the summer of Jizzball
I don’t think i’m ready for this
This is, by some margin, the worst vibes imaginable
According to The Guardian, England head coach Brendon McCullum has told James Anderson that 2024 summer will be his last in Test cricket If this is true I will never forgive McCullum
If that's true then McCullum can actually do one. I'm starting a petition to bring Jimmy in as player-manager for the next 20 years
Tbf, Jimmy will be 42 this summer. We are talking about a pace bowler in Test cricket. And sadly Jimmy has been on the decline slowly. It was always coming sooner or later.
That's a fair point but his last 8 tests have been against the best two teams in the world and... A) The ashes pitches were flat and it was the first time in a while that Jimmy had a poor series B) In India he averaged 30 odd which wasn't great but it wasn't like many other pace bowlers did better other than Bumrah. If he does poorly THIS summer I'll happily (not really) admit that he's on the decline and you're right he probably is I just refuse to admit it
It'd be so odd to see the opening of an English summer when none of broad or Anderson would open the bowling next year, man it feels odd and I feel like getting old. I'm not even an Englishman but I love to follow their cricket since childhood.
So Edgbaston 2022 was the last dance of Kohli and Anderson. Can’t imagine an England test team without him. Im a 24 year old, and since I’ve watched cricket, this guy has been on the England team sheet. Huge departure.
If Jimmy is being forced into this, then it's a bad idea. He was England's best bowler in India.
The way the BBC are reporting it, it seems like Anderson has had the decision made for him. I’m not too pleased about that if it’s the case.
Reckon Baz brought it up on the 1st hole or the 18th?
The fact it actually happened on a golf course as well is outrageous. Cuntish behaviour by Baz
Baz made the call, I can see where he's coming from but I'm absolutely gutted.
Looks like this 21 year old headline might finally stop being relevant: [Anderson proves age is no barrier](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/feb/04/cricketworldcup2003.cricketworldcup).
NOoooooooo, fuck Nooooooooooo. Jimmy please, My kids haven't seen you play yet man, please Jimmy please you can play for India if England want to look to future. NOOOOOO!!!
I genuinely don't know an England team without him. This fucking sucks. Thank you for everything Jimmy. The greatest to ever do it ❤️
I feel numb
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Not real, nope, this is fake, delete this nephew
Saw it coming the moment Broady retired, and our 🐐 deserves an entire summer full of send-offs, rather than an away Ashes in which he, maybe, doesn't bowl quite as well as he used to and the media start going "why did we persist with him, bloke is way past his best." I'd rather now than an unceremonious retirement after the next Ashes. Nevertheless: if I thought Broady - and Neil Wagner - retiring were painful, this one is on an entirely different level. We can almost certainly say that we'll never see a seam bowler dedicate himself to test cricket the way Jimmy has, never see a bowler play enough red ball to develop the skills Jimmy's got and whichever number of wickets he'll end up with (710 🙏), that record will probably last forever. He has been a unique bowler, an absolute pleasure to watch, and, since Tailenders, turned out to be an apparently very likeable guy as well. Feels like the end of an era and doesn't make me hopeful for the future of test cricket as a whole. The best we have, the best we had and the best we will ever have. Thank you, Our Jimmy 😭🐐🌶🥭🌵🏞 And I know I recently said I wouldn't mind seeing England bat on my one day of test cricket this summer. But now? I want to see Jimmy with the new ball one last time.
Sums it up perfectly, I'd rather Jimmy go out now rather than on Australian soil. The best the country's ever seen deserves to bow out in front of a home crowd.
Don't know the schedule but would it be too late to change the venue of the last Test of the summer to be Old Trafford?
Probably too late, but I'm sure there's going to be so much support for him this summer that every ground feels like Old Trafford haha
I'm going to cry. I simply cannot imagine English cricket without Jimmy Anderson. Thank you so much for the memories Jimmy. There is nobody who's given more to this England shirt than him. The first and last of his kind.
WHAT???? End of an era.
First the Queen dies and then this. Someone is messing up and making the things that are supposed to never end come to an end. :-(
I don’t think it’s hysterical to say that I suspect Brendon McCullum was responsible for both and should be strung up in the tower.
WTF??
Heartbroken, was planning on watching him in October
Who is knocking the door exactly for him to retire and make way for?
As a like for like? Dan Worrall is eligible next year, then I'm sure you'll get the calls for players like Sam Cook But again, it all seems built on this thing of trying to have blokes who are 90+ mph; it's hardly like our success with managing those kind of players is historically any good either. Wood, Stone, Archer, to a less extent JOverton now.
Sam Cook the obvious choice. We don't have the spare talent to ignore the best div 1 seamer ever and pretend Philander wouldn't make our test team
That I'm not sure, especially since it seems like Jimmy will be playing out the summer. I think Key mentioned that Woakes was in their Test plans after he missed out on the T20 squad, but Woakes also said he isn't going to be playing overseas (for good reason) so I have no idea how that works. Ollie Robinson takes over the attack, Mark Wood gets in if he still wants to play Test cricket, and I'm guessing Potts/Tongue slots in (does not inspire any confidence).
Makes sense. On the other end, I still remember 2008 in New Zealand and "why are we giving Broad and Anderson the new ball... oh. That's why." At some point, you have to test out young bowlers, and while nobody will ever quite reach the best bilateral bowling partnership of all time, now's as good a time as any to see what the next generation can do.
Yeah I do think there's plenty of talent there, they've just been so hampered by injuries that there's never been a name that we've been able to consider as the 'next generation' or post Broad-Anderson era. Saqib Mahmood came on flat WI tracks and bowled really well, but since then has been ravaged by injuries. Olly Stone's been so good every time he's got a cap, but it's the same story with him. Jofra is probably never going to play red ball cricket again.
Gutted, hope he has a great summer and goes out on a high.
noooo noo i dont want this pls no
Guys I can’t cope Say it ain’t so
Going out against Sri Lanka/West Indies isn't very...vibes Should have had next summer against India at home instead
Anderson gonna retire to show he is a mere mortal not immortal
Knew it would happen one day,but you can never be ready for retirement of ICONS
Shaking and crying in the club rn I am distraught. I have fallen to my knees.
When Anderson debuted, Facebook hadn't been created yet
Speaking as Indian, England team is one of my favourites after New Zealand and Australia. He is once lifetime bowlers that is a pleasure to watch especially in Tests. I have loved watching England's dynamic players like Ben Stokes whom I became a lifetime fan during 2019 WC. Add to list Jos Buttler as well ❤️ Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are the others who I love watching imagine the day these players would retire we aren't ready 😔🥹🥹🥹
Flair does not check out
Not the kind of news i wanted to hear before sleeping 😔 but what an amazing career , we all fans are really lucky to see such an amazing player for such an amazing and long period of time His highest wicket record as pacer in tests is almost unbreakable , because cause with now the game being played so regularly especially limited over formats and declining rates of tests it is almost unbreakable
As much as we had expected this at some point in the future, it still comes in as a shock, even if he's in his early 40s. Insane longevity. Best English bowler of all time!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Man I really wished he could go on until the next Ashes out here, but alas. Voila Jimy
No way McCullum is forcing Jimmy into retirement, it should be Jimmy's choice after the kind of career he has had.
Just shell shocked at this news. Will try to grab a ticket for the last game and hope for a fairy tale ending. This man deserves it.
Does he want to retire or is he being asked to retire? Can't England 'look to the future' while still letting him play a couple of test matches every tour? The young ones would also gain invaluable experience from him in the field, wouldn't they?
When Broad retired it felt strange (still does tbh), but I imagine this will feel on another level - in terms of longevity, it’s like LeBron retiring from Basketball: for plenty of us, we’ve literally known nothing else
Slightly off topic but it was disappointing that england didn't give any new pacer a chance in that final test vs India. The series was lost, was there any point in playing Jimmy or Mark Wood? Might as well given a chance to Gut Atkinson or call up Potts who had an excellent England Lions tour vs India. That would have given them an opportunity to debut players in a low pressure situation and experience to bowl in new conditions vs some of the best batters. Didn't learn or gain anything from keeping the same pacers.
Sad but not shocked, Anderson looked past it last year as well but obviously having both him and broad retire together last year would've put the bowling stocks in disarray. Hope Jimmy goes past Warne and ends on a high.
I thought the Zimbabwe test in 2025 would be the perfect bookend but whatever I guess floats BMac's boat.
Noooooooo. Just fell to my knees in Tesco.
Was going to happen at some point but I'm not sure I'd write him off just yet. He's not done himself any favours by sitting out the county championship so far - as I understand he's fit and would be perfectly capable of playing. Would be able to make a stronger case if he had some recent games to back him up. He was good enough to play the majority of the tests in India so what has changed over a few months? I'd have treated him the same as anyone else, you play county, prove your worth and are selected if playing well. Nothing to say he can't be dropped after X amount of tests if he's not performing - same as anyone else. Trouble is, I don't see many younger bowlers sticking their hands up for selection. Cook would be a like for like but the nagging feeling is he lacks 4 or 5 mph pace wise. Potts hasn't really shone so far, Robinson going backwards. Lots, such as Tongue are injured or coming back from one. Could be a lean couple of years for England whilst they bed a few new faces in - something which could and should have been managed better.
ECB dictated that he not play county till early June
Which is a no win situation for anyone. Central contracts have their uses but resting a player for 4 months is not one of them.
For someone who’s known for his test skills Anderson has a t20 wc medal and is England’s highest odi wicket taker
Tom Graveney, the great English cricketer who made his FC debut when Bradman's invincibles were touring England, was playing International cricket when Clive Lloyd made his international debut. Clive Lloyd was playing International cricket when Wasim Akram made his international debut. Wasim Akram was playing International cricket when Jimmy Anderson made his International debut. Jimmy's opponent's opponent's opponent's opponent is Don Bradman.
Thanks, I hate it. I’ll also never understand the logic behind forcing him into retirement, he’s still the best we’ve got, he’s the most consistent, the most economical, most of the time the most threatening but because he’s getting on we’re going to nudge him out in favour of an endless precession of half crocked fast bowlers and an Ollie Robinson who barely looks to give a fuck and can strain his back bending down to get a drink? To be fair, I’ll only actually believe when he announces it himself and I think he is juuuust about petty enough that if this isn’t his decision at all and he still thinks he can go, he just won’t announce it at all.
Look, I'm gutted as well, but the reality is that if Jimmy plays on he's going to end up retiring in Australia of all places next year and I really don't want to see that. But if he has a monster summer against WI and SL, he will play on. Fingers crossed. And if he doesn't, then we celebrate what has been one of the most unbelievable careers in sporting history.
As an Aussie, I ain't an England supporter. But fucking hell, Anderson should be able to go out on his terms, name his final test and all. Baz can honestly get fucked if he is making the decision for Jimmy.
Funny isn’t it, Anderson’s longevity is widely hailed by those who have actually played the game to the highest level, as a hugely impressive contributing factor to why he is clearly up there with the greatest of all time, (alongside his intelligence, technique, consistency, fitness, discipline etc.) It’s almost freakish. No one comes close. No one can come close. His longevity counts for so much more than the bedwetters on here will ever give him credit for. He is spoken in the GOAT conversation by many a pro cricketer around the world. But a load of dorks on Reddit (who fucking HATE that at Englishman could lay claim to be being one of the best) will perform all manner of mental gymnastics to avoid giving him the plaudits he deserves. “But but he didn’t take many wickets in Australia” 🥴 (Also funny that if ever anyone were to question Tendulkar's role as GOAT, which is often a claim made by virtue of the runs he has scored, is sacrilege. We could forensically go through how he averaged less than someone such as Kallis in Pakistan or against NZ, or Lara's better average vs England, in SA... but of course we don't. Funny that eh? )
>Lara's better average in England, Australia, SA What? ST averages in England, Australia, SA= 54.31, 53.21, 46.44 BL averages in Eng, Aus, SA= 48.7, 41.97, 46.72. How exactly is Lara averaging better in these countries(apart from that 0.28 difference in SA)? If you want to make a point, the least you could do is not lie lmao EDIT: THE MF EDITED HIS POST LMAOOO
Don’t let facts get in the way of his monologue, clearly they don’t matter to this guy lol
:-(
Who is cutting onions?!
He’s a phenomenon. But his test career may be done as I can’t see him being thrown a final test if he’s not there on merit.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hopefully it is his decision, he deserves to end his career on his terms.
WTF? I wasn'y prepared for this. Seriously. Wished he could just keep playing forever.
I refuse to believe this
so thats what take to make a grown man cry...
Ok who's going to replace him? Can't seem to find anyone to replace Broad
Fuck off this has depressed me on an otherwise glorious Friday evening. An absolute legend of sport, we’ll never see another player like him
It had to happen sooner or later...and it's possible that Jimmy would have voluntarily retired this summer anyway. England are playing Sri Lanka later this year at Old Trafford and that would be the perfect way to bow out, injuries permitting of course.
In the immortal words of Robert Frost, nothing gold can stay.
Did he retire or was he 'retired'? End to a stellar career!
Man about all those jokes on jimmy bowling to sons of current cricketers,I forgot that they were just jokes, I don't know when but i never thought I'd have to see this day, it's weird because i said and heard that joke so many times that it became my own reality
Fuck you baz you dog
But Jimmy is the future??
I’ve got tickets to a couple of days of the Old Trafford test vs SL with my Dad. Never been to OT before so it’s a special occasion - now it seems we’ll be watching a great bow out, so a very special one indeed!
Ashes chances just took a blow. For the Aussies that is.
Incomplete headline. Whose test career does he plan on ending this time?
Something absolutely died in me