In what should be considered bad publicity for the 100-ball franchise cricket league, James Anderson, one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, has revealed that when he played in The Hundred last year, he hated every minute of featuring in it.
Anderson, the only fast bowler to date to take 700 wickets in Tests, didn’t stop just there in his damning review of The Hundred.
Anderson, who is the red-ball captain this season for Lancashire, last year played three matches in The Hundred after doing quite well in the T20 Blast. He played for Manchester Originals, and his bowling output was two wickets.
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“It was a mixture of hating every minute of The Hundred last year, if I can say that, and especially being captain this year, I think it’s really important that I focus on being as fit as I can be for the four-day stuff,” Anderson told The Independent.
“When The Hundred’s on, I’m hopefully going to be on holiday somewhere,” he added.
The 43-year-old went on to say more damning stuff, as you can see. Even if he didn’t mean to be critical, the truth of the matter is the stakeholders, including the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), won’t be too happy for sure as they look to promote and popularize the fewer-deliveries format.
The new season of county cricket starts on Friday. In their first game, Lancashire are on the road to Northamptonshire. Last season, Anderson had captained Lancashire on an interim basis in five matches and won two, drew two and lost one.
“Captaining Lancashire for the first time last season was a huge privilege, and I’m honoured to take on the role full-time heading into the new season,” Anderson told the club website after being appointed permanent captain late last year.
“We’ve got a fantastic group of players, a great blend of youth and experience, and I’m excited about what we can achieve together with promotion back to Division One our number one priority,” he added.
Anderson, who retired in 2024, maintained that getting promotion to Division One was what he was eyeing in the upcoming county cricket season. “I want the team to get promoted this year,” he said.
“I want all the players to have fun doing it. Remember why we started playing cricket, because we love the game. County cricket, he knows, can feel like a treadmill. So to try and bring guys back to, ‘it’s not just a job, it’s something that we love doing’.”
