© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
A calf niggle pushed back the intended date but, barring any last-minute hiccups, Jimmy Anderson will on Thursday begin his 22nd season for Lancashire in preparation for his 19th in the whites of England. The way the 38-year-old is talking right now, don't bet on it being the last either.
We're at a deserted Old Trafford on bank holiday Monday, the relentless rain having put paid to training and once again turned Manchester into a scene from LS Lowry's easel. Anderson has come in regardless, putting in one of the countless gym sessions that have underpinned his remarkable career before sitting down for a chat.
After a comment about local conditions that, typically, is as dry as the weather is wet, Anderson explains his recent injury blip was a result of switching from running on a treadmill to grass. It is not related to the issue that scuppered his Ashes series in 2019, he says, and, though he turns 39 in July, no reason to start doubting his continuation.
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"The thing that frustrates me the most," Anderson says, lasering in on this subject like it is the top of off stump. "And it happens in this country more than most: you get to a certain age and people begin saying you have to start slowing down or you're losing the ability to do your job. But I'm not sure from my own experience that's the case."
The results support that. Anderson's Test bowling average is 26.46, the lowest since the second of his 160 caps, while he has taken 181 wickets at under 20 in the past five years. During the recent winter he was Joe Root's banker once again and never more so than the final day of the first Test in Chennai, when his reverse-swing sorcery turned stumps into circus tumblers for a stunning coup de grace.
© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianJimmy Anderson: 'I have never had those thoughts, that I've had enough or it's getting too much.'
Though just as lithe as the quiet Burnley lad who claimed a five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe on Test debut at Lord's in 2003, and more frictionless in delivery than ever before, soft tissue injuries have started to creep in. In response he has become obsessed with his running technique, such that the explore function on his Instagram app is awash with videos of athletes performing various drills. His speeds, he claims, are faster than 10 years ago as a result of the work and proof that age is but a number.
It means he is set to equal Alastair Cook's England record of 161 caps early next month and go beyond, in what would be a convention-defying feat given the strains of fast bowling, even in the era of central contracts. Cook's final appearance, in 2018, was the day Anderson surpassed Glenn McGrath's 563 Test wickets - the previous highest for a seamer - but even with 600 now in the rearview mirror he is not sated.
"I have never had those thoughts, that I've had enough or it's getting too much," he says. "It's probably down to having never had the captaincy. With Cooky, it possibly all added up in the end. I mean, I guess I go into every season asking if I can cope but I've started this year as well as any with the ball. There's no reason I can't keep going.
"And you draw comfort from seeing people across other sports, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic getting another contract at Milan [aged 39], Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl at 43, Roger Federer [39] overcoming injuries or Chris Thompson qualifying for the Olympic marathon at 40. It makes you think, why should I start slowing down?"
© Provided by The GuardianAnderson watches as Pakistan's Azhar Ali edges a catch to the slips to give him his 600th Test wicket last August. He now has 614 going into a busy summer against New Zealand and then India. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AFP/Getty Images
Anderson acknowledges his career has been extended by England's decision to end his one-day career in 2015 - he remains the country's top 50-over bowler with 269 wickets - and his skills have become even more specialised. The wobble seam delivery, learned from watching Pakistan's Mohammad Asif in 2010, has become "vital", he does not go for runs and with swing he remains lethal.
But what of the mental side? Even focusing on one format and without the additional burdens of captaincy, Test cricket doesn't tax simply the body. "Do you know what, that's the bit I'll miss the most," he says. "There is nothing like it. Cricket has moved away from the image of cucumber sandwiches and big teas. It's intense and Test cricket is five days of having to cope with that. It takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and challenges you physically as well. It's amazing.
"I just love it. I know I won't ever be able to find a substitute for it. When I do eventually retire, hopefully it will be when I have had enough and so I enjoy whatever comes next. I know it's going to be different. But that's life."
And before then? "There's no real goals for me, personally. I honestly don't look at the amount of wickets I want to take or anything like that. I just look at the talent we've got in the England Test team and I feel I can still offer something on and off the field. And I love being a part of that growth."
I just love Test cricket. It's amazing and I know I won't ever be able to find a substitute for it
Glamorgan's visit to Old Trafford on Thursday starts his buildup towards the first of two Tests against New Zealand and then five against India. Though he ended the 2017-18 Ashes saying he had likely just made his final tour of Australia, Anderson's enthusiasm for the project of building a team to win back the urn suggests that prognosis has changed.
The England side that won there in 2010-11 and went on to become No 1 in the world remains the benchmark but Anderson fancies the current crop "will suit the pitches in Australia" and " bowling-wise, we have all bases covered".
He continues: "Myself, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Olly Stone, Ollie Robinson, Sam Curran, plus the fact our best player last summer, Chris Woakes, didn't play all winter - that tells me we're doing something right in terms of depth. You need at least five seamers to win in Australia, possibly more.
"Weirdly, 12 months of cricket in bubbles and bigger squads has helped us too; guys like Robinson and James Bracey haven't played yet but now know what it takes. I think back to my debut and I didn't know anyone. It's huge for them.
"We have to focus on the series ahead of us though. New Zealand and India are the World Test Championship finalists - the best two sides around - so as players we won't be thinking about Australia. It's down to the management to look at the bigger picture."
That setup has changed recently, with Ed Smith removed as national selector and the head coach, Chris Silverwood, taking full charge. It's another reminder of Anderson's longevity - and one he laughs at when put to him - that he made his Test debut before Smith's three caps in 2003 and is still going beyond the former batsman's second incarnation picking the squads.
"It's huge," says Anderson of the recent reshuffle. "But then if I was a head coach, I'd want the strongest say in terms of who is in my squad. Now [Silverwood] has got that, the power to say who he does and doesn't want. I think that will be good for the team."
© Provided by The GuardianAnderson (right) receives his Test cap from then chairman of selectors David Graveney alongside Anthony McGrath against Zimbabwe at Lord's in May 2003. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
Asked how he would appraise Smith's three years as national selector, Anderson takes a long pause before crediting him for making "some good decisions" and acknowledging the job is not simple. One suspects Broad, the other half of England's most prolific new-ball partnership, would not be so generous.
"God yeah," says Anderson, when asked whether long-running tension with Smith was responsible for Broad's impressive recent output. "Yep, 100%. Any sort of friction like that, anyone writing him off or showing any doubt in him, that will just spur him on like you wouldn't believe. He's just so stubborn like that.
"Southampton last summer is the obvious one, the way he bowled after missing the first Test was some of the best I've seen from him in a series. I've never seen someone so upset to miss out. I saw him that night and he was seriously angry."
That Broad sought talks with Smith after the snub, despite Silverwood and the stand-in captain, Ben Stokes, theoretically picking that XI and delivering the news, is an example of how accountability for decisions has not always been straightforward. As Anderson points out: "at least there's clarity now, it removes the doubt."
Similarly not in doubt is the impact Broad, four years younger, has had on Anderson's career. A lively start with Nottinghamshire this summer, brought forward at Broad's own request, is even noted as a source of early-season inspiration for Anderson who sits one wicket away from 1,000 in first-class cricket.
It is the latest milestone in a career of plenty, greeted with the usual Anderson answer that he is happy to have stayed fit and hungry enough. He remembers being awestruck when Andy Caddick passed four figures at Somerset in 2005, as well as the Lancashire dressing room badgering Glen Chapple for one more year when finishing on 985.
Could Anderson see himself emulating Chapple and bowling for Lancashire after his 40th birthday? "If I'm not playing for England, then yes. I've spoken to the guys here and told them I want to play or be involved in some capacity. I love the club. If I retire [from England] or am moved on, and if I still have enough in the legs, then definitely."
How Anderson qualifies this answer says it all, so, too, a remark on our way out of Old Trafford and into the rain: he has never bowled to Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, who is in the Glamorgan team visiting this week, and is looking forward to it. Anderson may claim not to set any goals in terms of wickets, but that's not to say he doesn't have targets.