Jimmy Anderson: Coronavirus pandemic won’t end my cricket career
James Anderson has no intention of letting the coronavirus outbreak bring an early end to his record-breaking England career and has vowed to enjoy every moment when he finally gets the chance to take the field again.
The entire domestic cricket season has been paused until May 28 at the earliest, casting uncertainty over both the county season and the international calendar and leaving players up and down the country in a state of uncertainty.
At the age of 37 and with 151 Test caps to his name over almost 17 years, Anderson might not have the chance to make up for much lost time, but he has not even considered being pushed into retirement.
“We will play again and I will play again at some stage,” he said. “Not bowling a ball this summer? At the moment that’s pretty realistic with the situation around the world. I think it would be silly to not think about that, but long-term I think I’m still going to play.
“If we get some games in over the winter I feel like I could play a part. I think you need a bit of perspective on this as well. There’s more to life than sport as we’ve seen, what people are sacrificing in the NHS and sadly people losing their lives to this virus. For us to be sacrificing some, maybe all, of the cricket season... I don’t think that’s a huge sacrifice considering.
“I get to play sport as a job and when I do get to do that again I’m really going to cherish it and enjoy every single moment of it.
“I’m still hungry to play, I’ve still got ambitions to play for England so that’s going to keep me driven at home.”
