James Anderson to be named England fast-bowling mentor after retirement

Veteran England pacer James Anderson will continue to work with the team’s coaching set-up after playing his last Test match against West Indies at Lord’s Cricket Ground next week.

Anderson, 41, is widely considered England’s greatest pacer as he made unmatchable history throughout his career with the country and is the only pacer to bag 700 wickets in red-ball cricket.

The match against West Indies would be Anderson’s 188th and last red-ball match for England but he will not be out of the picture after that as Rob Key, England’s Managing Director, has confirmed he has asked him to remain with the team all summer.

“He’s got so much to offer English cricket. We don’t want to see that go,” Key said. “When we asked him, he was keen. He is going to have a lot of options. English cricket would be very lucky if he chooses to stay in the game.”

Anderson is currently representing Lancashire against Nottinghamshire in the County Championship at Southport.

“What he does with Lancashire will probably work out after the Lord’s Test,” said Key. “We've got some conversations to have after to find out what he thinks is the best thing to do. Everything so far has been him gearing up for this Test match.”

Last year, Anderson’s longtime bowling companion, Stuart Broad, decided to end his career and had a fairytale farewell, riding off into the sunset after clinching a wicket with his final ball, securing a draw for England in the Ashes.

England's squad for the first two Tests against West Indies

Ben Stokes (Captain), James Anderson (First Test only), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes.

England vs West Indies Test series schedule

First Test — July 10 to 14 @ Lord's Cricket Ground

Second Test — July 18 to 22 @ Trent Bridge, Nottingham

Third Test — July 26 to 30 @ Edgbaston, Birmingham 

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