England’s record Test wicket-takers James Anderson and Stuart Broad have set their sights on a final Ashes series together in Australia beginning in November of 2021 before they consider international retirement.
Anderson and Broad have been playing only Test cricket for England having both retired from limited-overs cricket in 2015 and 2016 respectively, while they are first and second in England's list of all-time Test wicket-takers with 584 and 485 wickets respectively in the traditional format of the game.
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England last year lost the Urn to Australia having drawn the five-match Test series 2-2 at home soil and the veteran pacer wants to help the side to reclaim the Ashes before calling time on their career.
The 33-year-old Broad and 37-year-old Anderson are coming to the end of their brilliant international careers, but now the two are eager to feature in the last Ashes series to help England to reclaim the urn Down Under in the winter of 2021-22 and get a memorable farewell in Australia.
Speaking in an Instagram Live Q&A, Broad told Anderson: “I don't think I could go until your age. Your action's so smooth, it looks a lot calmer on your body whereas mine is a little more forceful through my body, I think. I'd never want to get to that place where I'm bowling against a 19-year-old and they're going, 'I thought someone said he used to be a good bowler'.”
The pacer continued, “I'd hate that. I'd prefer to go that little bit earlier than that little bit later. But I'm loving the environment at the minute. I love playing for England. Chris Silverwood coming in as a coach is great for me because I really liked him as a bowling coach, and he helped change my action.
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I still have a huge motivation to keep playing and you just assess that year by year. And we've got that carrot dangling over us of Australia in Australia which looks like an achievable carrot to grab.”
Meanwhile, Anderson said about his future: “The big thing is standards. If your standards feel like they're dropping, then yeah, you might consider finishing. But as long as my standards stay high, my fitness levels stay good and my skills stay where I want them to be and my speed stays pretty good, which they have been, [I will carry on playing].”
He signed off by saying, “We’ve got an exciting team and a few young guys who are just starting out on their journey, we’ve got some more established guys and we’ve got two guys who have been around a long time. I think it’s nice to be a part of that team where you feel you can actually achieve something and go on and have success. As long as you’ve got that drive, then why not carry on?”
(With AFP Inputs)
