'Felt like I was in Goodfellas': James Anderson on being forced into retirement and how he was communicated

James Anderson has publicly expressed his desire to play a bit longer than he actually did after being forced to an early retirement by Brendon McCullum and Co with the team going ahead with youngsters, with an eye on the next year's Ashes in Australia.

Former England pacer James Anderson revealed that he felt like Joe Pesci's character Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas when he walked into a dingy Manchester bar for 'the' conversation with the caretakers of England cricket, red-ball coach Brendon McCullum and men's cricket Managing Director Rob Key. In his book, Finding the Edge, Anderson opened up about forced retirement in detail having already publicly expressed his desire to continue for longer than he did.

“As I walk towards them, it hits me cold. This isn’t a team appraisal, is it?” Anderson wrote in one of the excerpts from the book. "With each footstep toward the far side of the bar, each of their distinct silhouettes coming into view, the tram journey just gone is suddenly like a blissful past life, the outdoor sun sucked into a horizonless neon-red darkness.

“My brain is doing the maths and my heart is sinking as I go to shake their hands. I feel like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, ushered into a room under the impression that I’m going to get made, only to be shot. You f******.

“They’re going to tell me something I don’t want to be told, aren’t they? Something I’ve been swerving, darting, shapeshifting, bowling through my whole life," Anderson added.

This is not the first time that Anderson, who finished his career with 704 wickets in 188 matches for England, was communicated such a message. The 42-year-old was at least glad that there was a proper interaction and that both Key and McCullum explained where they were coming from in terms of decision-making. Anderson went on to add how the snub from the West Indies series two years ago took place - just a 45-second phone call from Andrew Strauss.

"He just said on the phone, incredibly bluntly and swiftly, ‘There’s no easy way to say this, but we’re going in a different direction. We’re giving younger players a go.’ That was it. No further information. End of call," Anderson mentioned while saying that he chose not to say at that moment as his children were in the car and informed the same to Stuart Broad, his partner-in-crime for years for England while learning that he too had been dropped.

Anderson finished his career as the third-highest leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, missing Shane Warne's record by just five wickets.