Ashes 2021-22: James Anderson hits back at Michael Vaughan over retirement claims
James Anderson, Michael Vaughan James Anderson, Michael Vaughan (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)
Australia have been annihilating England in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22. What was expected to be the mother of all battles turned out to be a one-sided affair. Thus, the horrific performance of the visitors have led to them being severely criticized.
However, amidst a nightmare of a series for the Britishers, their star pacer James Anderson has once again come good for them. He is England’s second-highest wicket-taker in the series as of now. Yet, Michael Vaughan had recently gone on to say that England needs to “manage” Anderson’s retirement.
“Managing Jimmy’s retirement is going to be key to this team moving forward. His future is the big elephant in the room,” said Michael Vaughan, as quoted by Metro UK. However, the 39-year-old thinks otherwise, and felt that he still has a lot more to offer.
“I read that my future is the “elephant in the room”. It is not the elephant in the room because the captain and coach know exactly what my thoughts are on it. They have told me their thoughts too. They want me around and to carry on. As long as that is the case, it is not an elephant in any room,” James Anderson wrote in a column for the Daily Telegraph.
He also went on to speak about the ongoing Ashes series, and how it has been one of the toughest ones of his career. The English pacer cited his team’s poor performance in the last two years as well. Last but not the least, he also mentioned the fact that they haven’t got 20 wickets in any of the matches in this series which has hurt them.
“This has been the toughest Ashes tour of my career. Frustrating more than anything. We came here thinking we had a good chance but if you look at our form over the past 18 months to two years we have not been great. It is hard to win Test series with low scores but we have not been good enough in all areas really and they have played well. We are yet to take 20 wickets in a Test. It is not just the batsmen’s fault. Bowlers have to take some responsibility as well,” he added.
