James Anderson: I hated every minute of The Hundred – leading Lancashire’s promotion push is my focus

There was a point when Sir James Anderson felt his chances of captaining Lancashire were over. “Once I got to 40, I thought maybe it's gone,” he smiled. But a cricketer who has redefined what is possible for the middle-aged was still opening the bowling in Test cricket when his fifth decade began.

He started to lead Lancashire part-way through last season . Now he enters a first year as club captain; one in which he turns 44 in July. Anderson may be the oldest swinger in town - the oldest wobble-seamer, too – but if references to his age are inescapable, he invokes it in self-deprecating fashion.

What about pre-season? “The running side of it, maybe not trying to sprint, keep up with 17-year-old lads and just do what I need to do to be fit for a game. ” As he contemplates a schedule he deemed “absolutely crazy”, he reflected: “It's so difficult for a bowler, let alone a 43-year-old bowler, to play every game of the summer.

My heart is saying, ‘definitely’; my head's like, ‘it'll be a massive challenge’. ” James Anderson will remain right in the swing of things 25 years into his Lancashire career (Getty Images) And yet he will try. Why is he still going?