'James Anderson wasn't expecting...' - Rob Key reveals details of 90-minute meeting where Brendon McCullum forced pacer to retire

England managing director Rob Key opened up about the conversations head coach Brendon McCullum, skipper Ben Stokes and he had with James Anderson related to the pacer's retirement. He revealed that they told the pacer that it was time for him to move on as they wanted to groom new fast bowlers. 

England's James Anderson announced his retirement from Test cricket on Saturday (11th May). It came as a surprise because the pacer recently talked about his desire to play for a few more years for the team in the longest format of the game for Three Lions. 

However, he didn't get what he wanted as it was learned that head coach Brendon McCullum traveled all the way from New Zealand to speak to James Anderson about his retirement. The pacer was informed that the team is looking to build up for the future and hence the fast bowler should announce his retirement. 

After the conversations, James Anderson took to his Instagram account and revealed about his decision to retire. The fast bowler stated that the upcoming first Test of the series against West Indies, which will be played on 10th July, will be his last game. 

Rob Key stated that he along with Brendon McCullum, and Ben Stokes had conversations for around an hour with James Anderson in the hotel. He admitted that the fast bowler didn't expect that they would talk about his retirement. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, he explained: 

"When we made the decision and we thought, 'OK, we need to go and meet Jimmy and discuss the future', Brendon concluded that the right thing to do was to fly over to England [from New Zealand]. 

"The three of us went up to see him: myself and Brendon caught the train up from London, and Stokesy was in Manchester, getting ready to fly out to America for a family holiday. We all met Jimmy in a hotel near the station and we had a conversation for about an hour and a half, which Baz led. I don't think Jimmy was expecting it, but I don't think it was completely unexpected."

We just sort of said, 'look, I think it's time for us to move on- Rob Key on conversations with James Anderson 

Rob Key revealed that after conversations with James Anderson, the fast bowler stated that he would be retiring at Lord's. He added that they told fast bowlers that they needed to prepare new bowlers. He elaborated: 

"In the back of his mind, he knew that the time was coming, and we discussed lots of different things as well, and the future for Jimmy after playing… we didn't impress upon him that he had to make the decision there, and then not so long ago, he decided that the Lord's game was going to be his last. 

"We just sort of said, 'look, I think it's time for us to move on.' We're coming to a stage now where we've got to start looking towards the future… people now need the opportunity to learn how to bowl with that new ball, to go through a day's worth of Test cricket and then realise they've got to back it up the next day. Now's the time that people have to start learning that." 

James Anderson, who is the third leading wicket-taker in Tests, has 700 wickets to his name from 187 matches that he has played for England. He is just 9 wickets away from Shane Warne's tally of 708 wickets and becoming the second highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game.