World Cup struggle for Taylor
Don’t rest me, I need to keep going
JAMES ANDERSON is urging England not to rest him from Test duty because every series could be his last.
And Joe Root would be a fool not to get all he can from his legendary bowler before the curtain goes down on his illustrious career.
Anderson, 36, has no plans to call it a day any time soon and by only playing Test cricket he feels fit and fresh enough to keep toiling in places like Sri Lanka and the West Indies this winter.
But after going past Glenn McGrath’s fastbowler record with his 564th wicket, he revealed the end could hit him without warning.
“I don’t really think about retirement,” said Anderson, who will turn out for Lancashire at T20 Blast finals day on Saturday.
“I play my best when I focus on what’s ahead of me – the next game, the next series, whatever.
“I go away now, we have a decent break before Sri Lanka, I’ll try to get myself in the best condition possible to cope with the rigours of bowling seam in Sri Lanka, which could be tough. Then we’ll see how it goes.
“I read something that Glenn McGrath said that he went into the 2006 Ashes with no intention of retiring and by the end of it he thought his time was up.
“That could happen to me. Who knows?
“I don’t like looking too far ahead. I don’t think it helps me or the team either. At the stage I’m at I don’t play one-day cricket.
“So I think I have enough time in between Test series to prepare myself well.
“We came into this five-Test series in six weeks with question marks – will the bowlers get through? We’ve got two 30-plus bowlers, will they need resting or will they get injuries? And we’ve done it.
“We pride ourselves on working hard when we got the chance and we got that time off.
“Myself and Stuart [Broad] have that time to be able to get ourselves in the right frame of mind, the right physical condition to cope with what’s ahead of us.”
Yet even Anderson understands that England need his contributions as well as preparing for a future without him and that is why they must be thrilled at the emergence of ‘gem’ Sam Curran.
The Surrey all-rounder has been a revelation in his first full series, claiming the man-of-theseries gong even though he was left out at Trent Bridge.
And there was visible excitement from Anderson when he talked about a player who should be in the England team for years.
“We’ve found a gem there,” he added. “He’s an absolute diamond of a player to be able to score runs in crucial situations or to be given the ball in any situation.
“Having that leftarm option as well – he’s extremely skilful with the ball and he loves the battle that Test cricket brings.
“We’ve made real strides. We always knew we had a pretty strong team and some really exciting talent in there. We’re lucky that we’ve added to that this series.” SCOTLAND’S Duncan Taylor faces a battle to be fit for the World Cup after being ruled out for the season.
The injury-plagued Saracens centre wrecked a knee in a reserve team game against Exeter last week but only discovered the full extent of the damage when he had surgery on Tuesday.
Sarries boss Mark McCall said: “He’s done his ACL, his PCL, everything really. It’s cruel for one of the most popular players in our squad.”
Taylor, 29, has started only 11 league games in the past two years as a result of two ankle operations, concussion, shoulder and hamstring injuries.
But so highly rated is he that in May the English champions extended his contract until 2021.
McCall remains optimistic he will be fit for the World Cup a year from now, adding “all things being equal” Taylor will be back playing in June.
A claim that boss Eddie Jones must pay out of his own pocket if he wants to bring consultants into the England camp has been dismissed as “untrue”and “nonsense” by a spokesman for the RFU.