James Anderson revealed his disappoinment at not being offered a new contract James Anderson gave a honest admission over Lancashire's decision to not renew his contract, which has left questions over whether he will continue playing professional cricket. The legendary England player claimed that the decision felt similar to when he was told by Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum, and Rob Key that he would feature for the England national team anymore which led to him announcing his retirement in July 2024 and playing for the national team for the last time at Lord's against West Indies. Anderson claimed he was shocked by the decision of the Lancashire board and said he went into the meeting thinking it would be about future plans for the next season. The 44-year-old captained the team last season and took 50 wickets despite the poor display in the second division of the County Championship. The England cricket legend, who is the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history among pacers and the second most capped player in the format, claimed the decision left him mentally distraught and wondering if there was something wrong with him. "I went in for what I thought was a conversation about how the team moves forward, because obviously it wasn't a great year for the team Being captain, I thought it was sort of just a chat about that. And then a couple of minutes in, I realised it wasn't a conversation; I was just being told that they thought the best way for the team to move forward is without me. Obviously, I was quite shocked. It was quite brief and, yeah, that was it," said Anderson on the Tailenders Podcast. "Last year didn't go too well for us on the field and all the way through the season, myself and the head coach are like, 'Is it something we're doing? Could we be doing more to help the team play better?' I finished the season thinking, 'Was it something I did, but was I doing something wrong?' "And then I get told this news and then I'm thinking that even more. I'm thinking, 'God, this is happening again. Is there something fundamentally wrong with me as a person, as a human being?' But your head just sort of races. I just didn't really know what to make of it for a good week. You're thinking, 'God, I'm never going to play cricket again.' All these sorts of things," Anderson added. The veteran pacer claimed he wanted to retire on his own terms from a team after the way things ended with England and Lancashire, but claimed he is still processing things and has not decided if he wants to continue playing and explore playing for other counties. "I don't know what the end looks like, but obviously I wanted to see my career out with Lancs. I don't know if my career's done, we'll have to wait and see, but it'd be nice, at some point, if someone will let me retire. "I'm still sort of trying to process everything, and weigh up what the best way forward for me is, really," Anderson stated. Aayush Kataria is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Network with five years of experience, having started his career in the organisation. He is a key memb... View More