Jimmy Anderson lifts lid on brutal England axe - 'It was like Goodfellas'

Former England star has admitted he felt like Joe Pesci in 'Goodfellas' when time was called on his Test career.

Anderson, 42, made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 2003 and bowled his final over some 21 years later against the West Indies. , but only after conversations with the higher-ups made it clear his career at the top was nearing its end.

When Anderson met with Test captain , coach Brendon McCullum and England director of cricket Rob Key, he didn't know the end was nigh. The reality quickly became clear, though, and with his fate.

In July, the bowler claimed he didn't think his meeting with the trio was a "normal appraisal". However, his version of events in upcoming book Finding The Edge goes into more detail.

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“As I walk towards them, it hits me cold. This isn’t a team appraisal, is it?” Anderson writes in the book, which has been serialised in the , speaking of a conversation rather than a negotiation.

"With each footstep towards 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 for my whole life.”

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Anderson took four wickets in that first Test against the West Indies, and has since taken on a role as a bowling consultant to help England's next generation of stars. Speaking ahead of that farewell game, he opened up on what he was told in that meeting with Key, McCullum and Stokes.

“Their message was basically, ‘We don’t think you are going to make it to the next Ashes (in 2025-26) so we want to give as much game time to other bowlers so they have 15-20 Tests under their belt before that series'," he recalled. "I had a suspicion that was going to be the case. I think they were surprised at how calm I was and I was probably surprised at my own reaction. I wasn't overly emotional or angry about it.

"I saw their point of view and appreciated them taking the time to lay it out for me. Since then I've come to terms with it and made peace with that decision."