James Anderson the ultimate retiree

The looming retirement of one of cricket’s all-time greats could be the last of its kind.

Remember when Australia and England, even more so, collectively held its breath on July 28, 2022, for the finale of Neighbours?

It was after all the end of an era. The final goodbye to a cast of characters, who had lived rent-free in millions of households across both nations.

They’d even changed the English view on Australians and their way of speaking. Tears were shed and hugs exchanged for it was believed that Ramsay Street would be shut down forever.

Then, just over a year later, much to the astonishment of the show’s fans, Neighbours was back in business, and will continue to dominate TV listings for a while to come. A farewell that doesn’t give you complete closure? That sounds like a cricket retirement, if anything. Or the kinds we’ve got used to in our sport over the past decade and a half anyway.

Take David Warner for example, and how we spent the latter half of 2023 debating first and then fussing over the end of the Warner era in a baggy green.

It was well-deserved too for one of the true modern-day greats of the game, regardless of what you think of him. But the fact is that Warner will be back in Australian colours in three weeks’ time, opening the batting in the T20 World Cup, his final retirement from international cricket. Even that though won’t be the real end. Warner will be on our TV screens dominating the IPL for a few more years to come yet.

James Anderson in March holds up the ball after dismissing Kuldeep Yadav and taking his 700th Test wicket Picture: Getty Images

And that’s why we should celebrate when the 41-year-old Jimmy Anderson takes his final bow at Lord’s in July. Now, that will be a proper retirement. Probably the last final goodbye of its kind. For, that will indeed be the end of the Lancastrian’s record-breaking and awe-inspiring career that is about to enter its 22nd English summer.

Never again will we see him grimace and grumble after having bowled a half-volley. Never again will we see him run his fingers through his well-manicured hair like he’s about to scratch his scalp off after having missed his line slightly. And never again will we see Anderson get the Dukes ball swaying to his magic like the Pied Piper of swing bowling that he’s been for over two decades.

You won’t see him popping up in a T20 league somewhere with a white ball. He hasn’t played in a T20 match in nearly 10 years. Nor will you see him enjoy a second coming as a crafty 50-over bowler.

In a strange way, like has been the case in the music industry for years, retirements in cricket have become farewell tours. No wonder Warner compared himself with John Farnham when asked about it last year. He’s just following the trend that was become a norm this century. And franchise cricket if anything has only accentuated what became a theme once cricket became a multi-format sport.

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne’s Test farewell at the SCG was not the end of their cricketing careers. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Former South African batter and ace fielder Jonty Rhodes was perhaps the first high-profile cricketer to retire from one format, when he called it quits in Tests in 2000 to try to prolong his ODI career, with his eyes set on 2003 for the first 50-over men’s World Cup in South Africa.

And there’s hardly been a cricketing superstar who’s since ridden into the sunset after a finale episode.

Even the great Glenn McGrath, who played the 2007 World Cup after the high-profile send-off at the SCG, and the late great Shane Warne, who played many seasons of IPL and BBL cricket, weren’t exempt from the trend. Sachin Tendulkar had two retirements, the one from Test cricket obviously more significant when a billion Indians stopped what they were doing and had a proper big cry.

The last time we saw Ricky Ponting, in a big setting as a cricketer, was when he captained Mumbai Indians in the IPL, months after finishing up with Australia. MS Dhoni, at 42, is still teasing his retirement in the IPL while selling out stadiums all around India, five years after he last appeared in an Indian shirt.

Sachin Tendulkar played on in the IPL after his Test career was over Picture: AP

There’s something reassuring in knowing that Anderson’s farewell will be a traditional finish. His fellow English teammates, Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad, are perhaps the only other two in the modern era whose retirements probably fit that bill.

Maybe Anderson could have been given the chance to go out with yet another bang. Play five Tests against India and his old nemesis, Virat Kohli, at home before finishing it off with the highest of highs with an Ashes series on Australian soil with an England team who you’d expect to be still Bazballing, even if it would have meant he’d be 43 at that point.

Him going out this way though also does fit with the old-school fast bowler’s charm that Anderson has carried with him throughout his career. The old grump who takes no prisoners and is in battle-ready mode every time he’s got a ball in his hand.

Or take his comment, “I just like not knowing them away from cricket, not being mates with them,” in an interview last year. And how he stuck with it right through until the end. Even Broad spent time and made friends in the enemy camp a few years ago, playing for Hobart Hurricanes in the 2016-17 BBL season. Anderson never did it.

A look at the ‘‘teams he played for’’ list is quite staggering considering the era we are in. In a cricket career that’s lasted the best part of 25 years, he’s only ever played for England, Lancashire or their representative teams. He genuinely maintained kayfabe, to use a wrestling term, without fail, and rarely if ever smiled at an opponent on the field – or just generally, as Broad revealed in a chat recently.

It’s only apt that his final encounter in what was his last Test away from home, in Dharamsala, involved Shubman Gill sledging him about it “being time to retire” and Anderson getting the “young punk” out two balls later. Classic Jimmy. Just as classic as his last dance with the Dukes ball will be, come July at Lord’s against the West Indies.

And at a time when most of us run to Google and type in, “will there be another season of …” the moment we hear about our favourite show coming to an end, we won’t be doing that for the Jimmy Anderson Experience.

This really will be it. A real end to a legendary era.