“I’m going to keep going till my body can’t take any more”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England pace bowler James Anderson has revealed that he wants to continue playing cricket for five more years.

Anderson, 33, has represented England in 109 Test matches to date and recently surpassed Sir Ian Botham as the country’s all-time leading wicket taker in Test history.

“I’m loving it at the minute, loving bowling, loving playing, enjoying taking wickets and the challenges we’ve got ahead,” Anderson told reporters. “Why can’t I play for another five years?

“I’m going to keep going till my body can’t take any more. I think I’m noticing the quality of beds more now, and how my back pulls up after a dodgy night’s sleep.

“People keep mentioning the age, and everything, so you do think about it. [But] I feel fit and strong – and I’m really enjoying it.”

Anderson has enjoyed a lot of success in the ongoing series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates as he has taken seven wickets in the first two Tests in Abu Dhabi and Dubai at a brilliant average of 19.14.

However, Anderson believes that the England bowlers will struggle during the third and final Test in Sharjah as the wickets is known to be flatter.

“It’s renowned for being the flatter of the three,” Anderson said. “Our stat man was very kind to put a few things up on the wall about seam movement and swing percentages at the start of the series – and Sharjah was three percent seam movement, which was pretty depressing from a bowler’s point of view. So if I bowled 100 balls, three of them would seam.”

Anderson also admitted that one bad session during the second Test in Dubai cost them dearly as Pakistan went on to win the match by 178 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

“It is pretty brutal,” he said. “We’ve played nine good days of cricket and one horrendous session when we shot ourselves in the foot. That has put us in this position where we are 1-0 down.

“[But] we still feel quite positive – because we’ve played some good cricket, and it could be 1-1 or 1-0 to us in different circumstances.”