Jimmy and Eoin earn right to call time
CRICKET
ENGLAND head coach Chris Silverwood believes record wicket-taker James Anderson and World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan deserve to end their international careers on their own terms.
Anderson missed the majority of the Ashes because of a calf injury, which will preclude his involvement for the trip to New Zealand next month in Silverwood’s first assignment since being promoted.
But in a bid to prove his fitness for the following tour of South Africa, Anderson is training at City’s Etihad Campus over the next two months alongside England’s strength and conditioning team.
With 575 Test wickets to his name, a record for a non-spinner, Anderson is not about to be summarily discarded by Silverwood.
Silverwood said: “Jimmy’s great. He takes wickets, he’s got a lot of knowledge in there that he can share with the players coming in.
“I think it will be up to him to let us know, and I think he will, when he’s had enough, but who wouldn’t want a worldclass bowler like him in the line-up?
“He is phenomenal.
“He gets wickets all round the world.
Silverwood is similarly determined not to be caught out when Morgan eventually stands aside as limited-overs skipper, with the Irishman’s future uncertain beyond next year’s T20 World Cup.
“The way he leads that one-day side and T20 side, and the influence he’s got with the players, is phenomenal,” Silverwood said.
“He’s earned the right to tell us when he’s had enough but certainly we’ve got to have one eye on transitioning that period.”