Anderson to become England's fast-bowling mentor following his retirement

James Anderson will serve as England’s bowling mentor for the rest of the Test summer after retiring from the format next week. England’s first Test against the West Indies at Lord's, starting on July 10, will be Anderson’s last Test.

Anderson has featured in 187 Tests and picked up 70 wickets at an average of 26.53. England currently don’t have a permanent bowling coach in red-ball cricket. Once the first Test is over, Anderson will stay with the squad for the second and third Tests at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. He will also serve as a bowling mentor for the three-match series against Sri Lanka.

“He’s got so much to offer English cricket. We don’t want to see that go. When we asked him, he was keen. He is going to have a lot of options. English cricket would be very lucky if he chooses to stay in the game,” BBC reported England managing director Rob Key as saying.

What he does with Lancashire will probably work out after the Lord’s Test. We've got some conversations to have after to find out what he thinks is the best thing to do. Everything so far has been him gearing up for this Test match.”

England have named Surrey wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith and Nottinghamshire pacer Dillon Pennington in their squad. Smith has played a pivotal role in Surrey remaining top of the Division table, having amassed 507 runs at 76.93 and could make his debut at Lord's. He played a couple of One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for England in September last year against Ireland. 

“Sometimes you're selecting people for what they're going to be as well, and where you think they can progress to. It's very much the start for Jamie Smith. We feel he's going to be a fantastic international cricketer,” added Key.

Talking about Jonny Bairstow, who hasn’t been in great form in Test cricket, Key said: “Generally, his form, in all formats, has just been going slightly in the wrong direction. It's an arduous task being a keeper and you want someone who can back up series after series. We weren't convinced that Jonny would be able to do that, especially at the stage of his career that he's at."

England have also picked Shoaib Bashir ahead of Jack Leach as their frontline spinner. The 20-year-old off-spinner made his debut in India earlier this year and scalped 17 wickets in three encounters. “I loved watching what he did in India. It’s the same thing where you're picking someone because you just see that potential. 

“You just think he's got everything as a spinner, and will get better.”

Lastly, Key also spoke about the future of England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler and coach Matthew Mott following their semi-final exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup. “I'm not going to rush anything on that, but like we always do, we'll start looking at what's the best way for that white-ball team to move forward.

“At times I thought we showed how good we were and at times we were inconsistent. We'll let the dust settle on the World Cup and then move forward from there.”

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