Ashes 2023: He might have a lot more left in the tank – Chris Woakes on James Anderson

At 40 years, after playing 181 Test matches, many cricket boffins question, How far can James Anderson go? The veteran fast bowler, who is at the fag end of his career, hasn’t had a great Ashes series against Australia thus far.

Anderson could scalp only three wickets in two Ashes Test matches at an average of 75.33 and thus he was dropped from the third Test at Leeds, Headingley.

England’s all-rounder Chris Woakes believes James Anderson still has a lot more fuel left in his tank and he can go a few more miles for the Three Lions.

In fact, Anderson had picked a solitary wicket in the opening Test at Edgbaston and admitted that the pitch was his kryptonite. The veteran has all the experience under his belt and he will look to deliver the goods for the national team in the remaining two Ashes Tests.

“We are lucky to have had Jimmy for so long, and who knows how much longer we’ll be able to call on him? I have a gut feeling that he might have a lot more left in the tank because Jimmy always proves the doubters wrong,” Woakes said while talking to Mirror Sport.

Anderson also stands on the cusp of becoming the first fast bowler to climb the mountain of 700 Test wickets as he needs another dozen to get to this peak, which hasn’t been acquired by any pacer so far.

“He may want to go past 700 Test wickets, but whenever the time comes for him to call it a day – and I’m not making any assumptions that this will be his last game or his last series – we have been blessed that he’s been such a master of his craft for 20 years,” he added.

Woakes, who played a key role in England’s three-wicket win in the third Test, tipped James Anderson as the greatest to have ever embraced red-ball cricket.

“In my book, he’s not just England’s greatest-ever bowler but one of the greatest ever to grace Test cricket,” Chris Woakes said.

“The paying public and fans watching on TV are in awe of his technique when they watch the super-slow motion replays of how the ball comes out of his hand… but so are we in the dressing room, and we’re his peers. I always feel you are in the presence of greatness when fellow professionals are in awe of what you do.”

It would be interesting to note England’s selection for the fourth Test match, which will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester from 19th July onwards.