42-year-old bowling legend signs one-year Lancashire contract

Retired England pacer James Anderson has signed a one-year contract with Lancashire ahead of the County Championship season and The T20 Blast. Despite retiring from the international arena in mid-2024, the 42-year-old has expressed his desire to continue playing.

Anderson retired from international cricket as England's leading wicket-taker in Tests, finishing with 704 scalps in a record 188 appearances. He took four wickets in his final Test against the West Indies at Lord's as England won by a handsome margin of an innings and 114 runs and consequently registered a series victory.

Lancashire will begin their Division Two campaign against Middlesex on April 4 at Lord's, where the right-arm played his final Test. Although Anderson will be part of England's support staff for the Champions Trophy in February-March, no official announcement has come regarding his resumption as their bowling coach for the summer.

"I'm very excited" - James Anderson ahead of his Lancashire return

Speaking on the Tailenders' podcast, the champion bowler stated that all along the one thing he surely knew about wanting to play. He said:

"I'm very excited. While I'm still fit enough and young enough, I want to play. The one thing I've known for many months is that I wanted to play cricket. It was just trying to find what sort of cricket I wanted to play and after a few chats with Lancashire and their plans for the year it just felt like a nice thing to do."

Anderson had also entered the IPL 2025 auction but went unsold. He made his maiden first-class appearance in the year 2002 and has so fat bagged 1,126 scalps at 24.52.

He has also hinted at prioritizing playing for the county side if selected over mentoring English bowlers.