James Anderson hopes for career extension due to COVID-19 break

James Anderson hopes for career extension: The legendary English player hopes to extend his career by a year or two due to the ongoing break.

Veteran England pacer James Anderson has supported the idea of generating spectators’s noise artificially in a stadium to improve the experience of playing behind closed doors amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on the Tailenders podcast, Anderson cited the example of how the National Rugby League in Australia is successfully experimenting with artificial noise to create a favorable environment for the players.

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“I’ve been watching the rugby league in Australia and I actually thought there was a crowd watching. I thought it worked. It was nice to have that sort of atmosphere even though there was no one there,” Anderson was quoted as saying.

Apart from Anderson, former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, fast bowler Pat Cummins and batsman Usman Khawaja, veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh, Pakistan batsman Imam-ul-Haq and veteran New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor have all been vocal about playing top-level cricket without spectators.

James Anderson hopes for career extension

Anderson, 37, who last played for England during the tour of South Africa earlier this year, has been deeply affected by injuries in the last two years. With 584 Test wickets to his name, Anderson is the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers in the format.

Having resumed training post the novel COVID-19 break, the Lancashire seamer hoped for the break to extend his international career by a year or two as he in closing distance of becoming the first fast bowler to pick 600 Test wickets.

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“The break could just add on a year or two at the end of my career. I’ve really enjoyed being back and as odd as it is just bowling into a net with not many people around, it’s still nice to be back and playing cricket,” Anderson said.

Had it not been for the coronavirus outbreak, Anderson would have played against West Indies at home this month. Citing the global crisis, the tour got delayed but not appears highly likely to begin next month.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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