James Anderson wants to prolong his Test career with England but David Gower believes the seamer "might just be lying to himself" on his future.
Anderson is the leading wicket-taker for seam bowlers in men's Test match history but struggled for large parts of the Ashes against Australia, who retained the urn with a 2-2 series draw.
The 41-year-old managed just five wickets across four Tests, one fewer than England's part-time off-spinner Joe Root, as Anderson struggled to trouble Australian batters.
Stuart Broad finished as England's leading wicket-taker after 22 dismissals and called time on his career, with Gower suggesting it may be time for Anderson to do the same.
"Jimmy wants to prolong his career literally as long as possible," former England captain Gower told Stats Perform. "He is so adamant that thoughts on retirement are not in his mind.
"I don't know Jimmy personally that well, but I suspect that's just because he loves being part of a team.
"Nowadays, you manage workloads, and that management has allowed Jimmy Anderson to still be playing international cricket at the age of 41. He loves it so much he doesn't want to give it away.
"The slight issue could be that people will look at his figures in this series. He's beaten the bat, yes, not as often as normal. He's had catches dropped off his bowling, which always infuriates and also makes the figures look worse, of course, but there's been just a little tiny downturn in the way he's bowled.
"At some stage, you have to say right we need to look ahead to the next generation. [Josh] Tongue, for instance, came in and looked pretty good. He's sharper than Anderson.
"Will Jimmy Anderson want to go to India where there's every likelihood that five pitches might be turning pitches? They're not going to be Jimmy Anderson pitches, I would suspect.
"If he wants to go to India, fair play to him. But selectors might at this stage be thinking now is the time that we have to have a quiet word in his ear.
"You maybe miss India, ostensibly, you could still keep the door open. He might be worried that they might tap him on the shoulder.
"He may say to the rest of the world: 'No, no, no, I'm absolutely fine, still got years left in me' – but he might just be lying to himself."
England captain Ben Stokes has repeatedly reiterated his desire to keep Anderson within the Test setup, with the former and coach Brendon McCullum placing their full backing in the seam bowler.
Regardless of whether Anderson – who has 690 wickets in red-ball internationals – continues, Gower believes the England veteran's legacy will remain intact.
"For Anderson, if this is the end for him, and it's still a very big if, you still look back on 20 years with extraordinary figures," Gower added.
"Even just look back to the winter, his figures in the winter, on very, very good batting pitches. In Pakistan, he played a full part in what was a great team effort winning a series, 3-0 in Pakistan, which in my time, that didn't happen.
"You had dead games on good pitches, maybe two-and-a-half innings in the entire game that was it, dull draws. England made those wins happen.
"They had to take wickets at key times and Jimmy was part of that. So you look back over 20 years and say it's an extraordinary, almost unbelievable record that sticks to his name."
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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