‘My international career’s not over’ says Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson

And the Lancashire star 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.

Neither the calf injury which ruled him out of last summer’s Ashes on the first day of the first Test, nor the broken rib he suffered in Cape Town two games into his comeback, dulled his desire and the current hiatus will not succeed either.

“I’ve not actually thought about never playing cricket again – 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 trying to keep fit so that whenever it is we play again I’m ready to go.”

The home conditioning work is already well under way, with Anderson joining his fellow England pacemen in a cycling challenge fuelled by competitive spirit and enabled by technology. “A few of the lads are training together virtually and I did a workout with Stuart Broad and Mark Wood on Wednesday,” he said.

“We’ve all got Peloton bikes. We did a little FaceTime video first to set everyone up and then jumped on.

“You have a leaderboard and you can compete against each other. In a time where you can’t have human contact it’s nice to have some sort of interaction with other people.

“Stuart came out on top this time, with me a close second and Mark in third.”

A message from the Editorial Director, Gillian Parkinson:

Thank you for reading this story on our website.

But I also have an urgent plea to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality local news on this free-to-read site and in print, please purchase a copy of our newspaper as well.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on our town centres and many of our valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you buying a copy when you pop out for your essential shop or subscribing for delivery.

Our journalists are highly trained by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards anywhere in the world. Our content is universally trusted - as all independent research proves.

As Baroness Barran said in a House of Lords debate this week on the importance of journalists: “Not only are they a trusted source of facts, but they will have a role to play in rallying communities and getting the message across about how we can keep ourselves and our families safe, and protect our NHS. Undoubtedly, they have a critical role.”

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. In return we will continue to forensically cover the local news - not only the impact of the virus but all the positive and uplifting news happening in these dark days.

We thank all our readers and advertisers for their understanding and support - and we wish YOU all the best in the coming weeks. Keep safe, and follow the Government advice. Thank you.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE:

You can subscribe for delivery by contacting us at [email protected] or calling us on 0330 4033004 for details of a participating newsagent near you.