Talking Sport: Sir Jimmy Anderson's remarkable longevity has echoes of the late, great Sir Stanley Matthews

Maybe he was being facetious but in the latter part of his life, legendary former England footballer, the late Sir Stanley Matthews always insisted that he ended his playing career prematurely.

Remarkably, ‘The Wizard of Dribble’ had just entered into his sixth decade when he finally called time on his incredible career.

After more than 700 appearances in the Football League for boyhood club Stoke City, across two spells, and Blackpool, plus 54 caps for England, Matthews hung up his boots at the grand old age of 50 years and five days.

Incredibly at the age of 41, he won the Ballon d’Or for his performances for the Seasiders in 1956 before returning to Victoria Ground five years later at the age of 46.

His final match saw him help the Potters to a 3-1 win over Fulham in the old First Division on February 6, 1965.

Whether Matthews - who became the first ever active player to be knighted - was being tongue-in-cheek in his proclamation that he finished too early, only he knows.

But for a man who spent a lifetime devoted to his craft, you get the feeling Sir Stanley was not being entirely flippant.

Daily sprints, a devotion to vegetables and fruit in his diet, and an advocate of fasting and detoxing; the great man’s regimen was pioneering and ahead of its time.

Despite being born more than a decade after Sir Stan’s last match, I grew up hearing about this remarkable player who was still good enough and fit enough to continue playing at the top level despite being at an age when most other players had long since settled down for an easier life.

I get the feeling that arguably England’s greatest ever fast bowler, cricketer Sir James Anderson, is from similar ilk as Sir Stanley.

Both Knights of the Realm and both displayed (still displaying) incredible longevity, not to mention skill, during their respective sporting careers.

For the past half-a-century - and more - Sir Jimmy has bent his back and turned his arm over - bowling more than 40,000 deliveries in Tests, add an extra 20,000-plus when you include all the First Class games he’s played.

And that’s not to forget his club career at Burnley, which I was fortunate enough to witness in the late 1990s, where he grew from youth cricket to becoming a player of huge potential as a teenager in the revered Lancashire League.

Bowling those sort of numbers at the speed in which he did and the load going through his legs at delivery stride points to an athlete of freak proportions.

He was able to marry his conditioning with a skillset which brought him a world record 704 Test victims for a fast bowler at an average of 26.45, alongside 269 One-Day international scalps for an overall First Class total of 1,193 wickets.

Retired against his wishes by England a couple of years ago, Anderson decided against a life in the commentary booth or the after-dinner circuit.

Instead, at the age of 42, he opted to return to the grind of the county game and serve Lancashire. Last year, his summer was slightly injury hit but this season, as he turned 44 in July, he has shown that he has lost none of his powers.

Fifty victims from 11 matches places him seventh on the list of leading wicket-takers in the County Championship Division Two this year.

Of the six bowlers above him, everyone - barring the leader England Test bowler Matthew Potts, who took 60 wickets from 11, played more games than him.

Indeed his average of 17.68 is better than any other bowler across the division who played more than five matches apart from Durham batsman Graham Clark, who took one wicket for one run from 0.3 overs in 11 fixtures!

He was named Lancashire’s Championship player of the year.

Considering those numbers, it is somewhat puzzling that Lancashire have seemingly decided to dispense with his services despite the fact that he is reportedly keen to carry on next summer.

As first reported by Anderson’s old Lancashire team-mate, former England skipper Mike Atherton - a man who the “Burnley Express” first bowled at in the nets as a 16-year-old - the Red Rose club, with new coach Paul Farbrace at the helm, have opted not to renew his contract as they look to ‘build for the future’.

Admittedly, it has been a disastrous season for the county with Anderson skippering the side. They finished second from bottom in Division Two - their worst ever finish.

There is perhaps an argument to get rid of Anderson the captain, although he has been severely hamstrung as skipper by a weak batting line-up which only posted four totals beyond 300 throughout the entire campaign.

If Anderson had failed to take wickets, had struggled to trouble batsmen or had found himself being hit around the park, then you could understand Lancashire’s decision not to renew.

But as his record would suggest, his bowling prowess is certainly not on the wane, nor his physical attributes.

Every sportsman once they reach a certain age have to start fielding questions about retirement - Anderson has probably been asked when he is likely to quit for the best part of a decade.

Ageism is most definitely alive and kicking in the genre of sport - older sportsmen are often accused of denying the development of the next generation.

In tennis, for example, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all continued to win Grand Slam titles into their late 30s alongside fielding questions about their ‘imminent’ retirement.

As the trio were often quoted in the media, it was up to the younger generation to knock them off their perch and send them off into the retirement sunset.

Did Stoke City worry about the development of their young players when Sir Stanley was still doing the business for them well into his 40s.

Surely operating alongside such greats of the game helps, rather than hinders, young players?

A few ex-players and commentators have hinted that Anderson slightly tarnished his legacy by not bowing out of international cricket on his own terms especially after he was unceremoniously dumped by England in 2024 with a token appearance against the West Indies at Lord’s offered as his international swansong.

It appears he won’t get even that from the county he has been attached to for coming up three decades.

In my eyes, his legacy has been enhanced - the fact that even after everything he has achieved in the game, he still has the drive, the commitment, the hunger to put his body on the line - not to mention leaving his performances open to the critique of others.

Unlike Stoke’s treatment of Sir Stanley, Lancashire’s unceremonious dumping of one of the greats of the game leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

It will be interesting to see what Anderson does next. Will he seek a move to another county or finish his professional career.

I doubt we will have seen the last of him in cricketing whites, maybe a season or two back at where it all began at Turf Moor may fulfil his desire to continue playing.