Dakota hotel

New Delhi: James Anderson, whose international career concluded with England’s Test against the West Indies at Lord’s in July, reminisced about his retirement, suggesting that he may have required nudge from the team management to make the decision.

Anderson’s international retirement, where he took 704 Test wickets, the most by any bowler from his country, was preceded by him being called to the Dakota Hotel in Manchester, where he was told by Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes and Rob Key that they were looking to blood new fast-bowlers ahead of the Ashes next year.

‘I've been in that position before, when Andrew Strauss said we were going in a different direction (in 2022, only for Anderson to return in a matter of months). But this time, it felt a little more personable. I left that meeting not feeling happy, but not as angry as I thought I would.”