Anderson becomes mentor to England fast bowler

James Anderson will join the England coaching set-up as a fast-bowling mentor when he retires from Test cricket against the West Indies at Lord’s next week.

The 41-year-old, the most successful pace bowler in Test cricket history, will end his international playing career after England told him they want to move on.

But England managing director Rob Key said: “He has so much to offer English cricket. We don’t want that to go away.

“When we asked him he was enthusiastic. He will have many options. English cricket would be very lucky if he chooses to stay in the game.”

Anderson, who has taken 700 Test wickets, is currently playing for Lancashire against Nottinghamshire in the County Championship at Southport.

He has yet to make a decision about his future with the Red Rose, but Key said Anderson will be with the England team “all summer”.

“What he does with Lancashire will probably work after the Lord’s Test,” Key said.

“We need to have some more conversations to find out what he thinks is the best thing to do.” He has been preparing for this Test match so far.

Smith is a ‘rare talent’

England have named a fresh-looking squad for the first two of three Tests against the West Indies.

With Anderson out, Nottinghamshire pace bowler Dillon Pennington has been called up, alongside Surrey’s Gus Atkinson, who has been in a previous Test squad but has not played.

Ollie Robinson has been left out and Mark Wood will miss the start of the post-T20 World Cup series.

England have also appointed the as-yet unranked Jamie Smith to keep wicket ahead of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, while Shoaib Bashir replaces Somerset team-mate Jack Leach as frontline spinner.

Key described Smith, 23, as a “rare talent”. The right-handed hurler has a first-class batting average of over 40 and has averaged over 50 in the County Championship this season, but usually plays for Surrey as a specialist batter, with Foakes donning the gloves.

“Sometimes you also select people based on what they are going to be and where you think they can grow into,” said former England batsman Key.

“It really is the beginning for Jamie Smith. We think he will be a fantastic international cricketer.”

Key added that Bairstow “needs to get back to what he was a few years ago” when the Yorkshireman reached six Test centuries in 2022.

“Overall his form, across all formats, has just gone a bit in the wrong direction,” Key added.

“It’s a tough job being a goalkeeper and you want someone who can support you series after series. We weren’t convinced Jonny could do that, especially at the stage of his career he’s at.”

Key said that while Foakes is an “excellent keeper” England are looking for someone in the seventh position who can “turn up the ante when required”.

“We feel he can handle the pressure and when he’s batting with a batsman at the other end he’s more than capable,” Key said.

“But his challenge and his job is to bring that other side into his game.”

Bashir has ‘everything’ as a spinner

In Somerset’s current Championship match against Warwickshire, left-handed Leach is preferred to Bashir, but Key said Leach will be England’s number two spinner for the foreseeable future.

Off-spinner Bashir, 20, made his Test debut earlier this year during the tour of India and took 17 wickets in three matches.

“I loved seeing what he did in India,” Key said. “It’s the same when you pick someone because you just see the potential.

“You just think he has everything as a spinner, and that he will get even better.”

Key was speaking for the first time since England’s defeat to India in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, which saw them vacate the title they won in 2022.

England won just one of four matches against other Test teams at the tournament in the Caribbean and the United States after defending poorly in the 50-over World Cup in India last year.

Key said reaching the semi-finals was not a “bad sign” but gave no guarantees that captain Jos Buttler and coach Matthew Mott will still be in charge of England’s next white-ball series against Australia in September.

“I’m not going to rush into this but as we always do, we’re going to look at the best way for that white-ball team to move forward,” he said.

“Sometimes I thought we showed how good we were, but sometimes we were inconsistent. We’ll let the dust settle on the World Cup and move on from there.”