ILT20 could be perfect for James Anderson’s Indian summer in franchise cricket

James Anderson might be surprised. “I don’t know how much people will want a 42-year-old bowler in their team, so we’ll have to wait and see,” Test cricket’s all-time leading wicket-taking seam bowler said this week.

He had just floated the idea of a – let’s be honest, rarely-touted – return to the world of T20 cricket, a few weeks after retiring from the international game, and 10 years since he last played in the shortest format.

Nobody saw that coming. Yes, it has been very clear the great man has been nudged off into retirement before he feels entirely ready.

England want to sort their plans for their bid to reclaim the Ashes next year, and he was told he did not figure in them. So off he had to pop.

Such is the magnitude of his achievements for England he could surely have a job for life mentoring the fast bowlers of their national team, just as he did straight after stepping away.

But he still has itchy feet inside his bowling boots. “I feel there is something there, that I still want to play a little bit more,” Anderson said, speaking on the Final Word podcast.

“Things will become clearer as the rest of the year progresses. There’s two Test tours in the winter and I’m not sure I’ll be on them in this [mentor] role.”

Then his mind wandered straight back to playing. “I watch the Hundred and see the ball swinging around in the first 20 balls and I think: ‘I can do that, I can still do that.’

“I don’t know if that is a viable option, to maybe see if I could do a job in white-ball cricket. Franchise cricket is something I’ve never done.”

It is not obvious whether he is talking himself into or out of the idea. But just putting it out there might be enough to sow the seed with HR managers around the franchise cricket circuit.

T20, after all, is an old man’s game. Many greats have seen their careers extended in the format. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden had their pensions enhanced by the early seasons of the IPL.

Chris Gayle is the master of the format, and thus found employment for years after he had passed his prime.

Similarly, MS Dhoni is 43 now, and might never stop playing IPL cricket. His team, Chennai Super Kings, have been wildly successful despite occasionally appearing to be a cricketing version of a home for assisted living.

Those guys all earned their money for their exploits with the bat. Anderson says he is sceptical whether sides would go for a 40-something bowler, but it is not without precedent.

Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir have remained sought-after in their cricket dotage. Pravin Tambe, most remarkably, only debuted in the IPL aged 41, and had a few decent years of earning in leagues as a result, even popping up at the T10 in the UAE.

All spinners, of course. A seam bowler like Anderson – who last played T20 in 2014 in the UK’s county competition, the Blast, for Lancashire – would clearly be a tougher sell. But it is a fascinating prospect.

It would certainly be a punt worth taking for a side in the International League T20, for example. The UAE’s first T20 franchise competition improved significantly during its second season at the start of this year. But it still struggles for identity, and something to set it apart from all the other identikit leagues around the world.

Anderson would provide an immediate USP. Not least because he remains among the most recognisable players in the game.

The ILT20 has been well populated by worthy and promising players, but many of them struggle for face recognition.

Jordan Cox, for example, despite a middling campaign for Gulf Giants last season, is highly regarded in England, as evidenced by his call-up to their Test squad to face Sri Lanka. But he would not get stopped in Dubai Mall and asked for a selfie, in the same way that Anderson might.

There would be few more handsome visages than Anderson’s to adorn the 300 metre by 16 metre billboard which covers the side of the Dubai International Stadium to advertise the ILT20. He is a drip, in the modern usage rather than the old one.

Would he be worth a place based on his expertise? It feels crude to even doubt that someone of his record would struggle in a league like the ILT20, but swing and seam, from a right-arm bowler, are not the most saleable assets in franchise cricket.

It is not unheard of, though. An ILT20 side with Anderson in its ranks could use CSK and Deepak Chahar as a template.

Chahar is a conventional right-arm swing bowler, who is usually given three Powerplay overs, when the new ball is swinging, to affect the game. It is easy to imagine Anderson fulfilling a similar purpose.

January and February in the UAE, when the ILT20 is played, suits that mode of attack. Three of the four leading wicket-takers in the first ILT20 season were right-arm seamers – Chris Jordan, David Wiese and Dwayne Bravo.

Furthermore, Anderson has always thrived in the UAE – albeit in an entirely different mode of the game. His average in Tests in the UAE of 20.54 is six runs thriftier than his career average.

He also knows the country well. He has spent time training in Dubai in recent winters, when England Lions based themselves alongside the kids of the Rajasthan Royals Academy at the Sevens in Dubai, as well as at Abu Dhabi Cricket and Sports Hub.

None of which qualifies him automatically for a gig at the ILT20. But, while he might not show up on any of their stats databases, franchises could do a lot worse than giving him a call.