Tom Reeves reports as another international star speaks out about the state of cricket…
England fast bowler James Anderson has admitted he thinks the England team play too much international cricket each year.
He pointed out that England – who will spend time in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the Caribbean on tour next year as well as hosting a home Ashes series in the summer – are the only country to play all year round.
“We spend about 310 days in a hotel in a year,” Anderson, 32, said.
“It probably is expecting too much but it’s just part and parcel of the job really. Even when we are in England, we still generally are touring around.
“I guess you get used to it. I’ve done it for 12 years, so I am.”
Clare Balding, who interviewed Anderson alongside footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and rugby star Danny Cipriani at the BT Studio in Stratford, East London, then asked how often he gets to see his children.
Anderson replied: “The last few weeks I’ve had a bit of time together with my five-year-old and three-year-old child. I will see them again when they are six and four!”
The 32-year-old also reacted to former team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s controversial new book.
“It’s been an interesting week or so,” Anderson admitted.
“It’s sad in a way that all the stuff that has come out (of Pietersen’s book) is about a really successful period for English cricket.
“I loved every minute of that period. We got to world number one in the Test rankings, we won three Ashes series in that period of time, but this has all kind of overshadowed that a little bit.”
He added: “To be honest, I think it’s a shame because he (Pietersen) was such an amazing player and I’ve heard very little about that from the book.”