James Anderson still remains mystified over his omission from England’ s Test setup following the recent tour of the West Indies. Anderson and fellow seamer Stuart Broad - who are England’s two most successful bowlers - were both dramatically dropped from the squad for the recent tour.
Nearly two months on Anderson has admitted he still doesn’t understand the decision, and revealed that it came ‘out of the blue’. In the Lancastrian’s absence, England's woes continued as they fell to a dismal 1-0 series defeat just weeks after being beaten by rivals Australia down under.
The axing of England’s all-time leading wicket taker came as a surprise to all England fans, let alone just Anderson, and the seamer still believes he has a ‘lot to offer’ the national side.
Asked if he understood the decision, he said: “Absolutely not. I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it and just put it to one side. It’s quite a big deal because it came out of the blue. I still feel like I’m bowling well.
“I was in the top 10 of the world rankings so I feel like I’m doing a good job for the team. I feel like I’ve got a lot to offer, not just on the field but off it.”
Following the resumption of the County Championship Anderson has been preparing for the new campaign with Lancashire, as the Red Rose prepare for the opening clash of the season against Kent this week. As a result, Anderson is hoping a string of strong performances to his county will result in a re-call to the national setup.
He continued: “I’ve now got to focus on what I can control and that is bowling as well as I possibly can for Lancashire. Try and take as many wickets as I possibly can and see what happens from there. Hopefully those performances will lead to a call-up.”
The swing bowler has no doubt enjoyed a remarkable career, having picked up 640 wickets - the most of any England bowler - since his Test debut back in 2003. Despite edging to his 40’s the bowling great still believes he has the skill and the fitness to compete at the very highest level on the international stage.
“People keep asking how long you are going to go on for and my focus has always been,” he added. “If I can still perform and my body is up to the challenge, then I will keep doing that. If what had happened in the last couple of months had affected me, I wouldn’t have enjoyed doing the gym and putting in the yards there.”
“I still love doing that so I keep going. If the England call doesn’t come, I will still play here [Lancashire] this season. I’ll have to take it season by season. I have never looked too far ahead.”
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Anderson and Broad’s axing were said to be part of England’s ‘Test reset’ following a period of recent struggle for Joe Root’s side. Asked if he felt he was difficult to captain the bowler said: “Not really. I’ve done what I did for quite a long period of time. I feel like I know what I’m doing. I don’t think I’m extremely stubborn. I will take advice and feedback from people. You’d have to ask Joe what he means by that.
In response to the ‘reset’ term that has been used across the England setup in recent months, Anderson added: “Our Test form has been poor for two years. I think it is a natural thing that everything comes under scrutiny. I'm not too sure what the “reset” thing actually means.”
