England coach Brendon McCullum says Stuart Broad and James Anderson will play yet another Ashes series when Australia tours next year.
Anderson will be 41 next July, and Broad will turn 37 during the 2023 series, but retirement still isn’t on the cards for either fast bowler who share 1,233 Test wickets.
“They’ll be here (for the Ashes),” McCullum said, as quoted by The Telegraph.
“They’re both smiling. How good’s that? Those guys are phenomenal cricketers. They could finish any time they wanted and they’d still be considered greats of the game.”
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It sets up a tantalising rematch between Broad and Australian opener David Warner, who was tormented by the right-hander during the 2019 series.
Warner, playing his first Test series since serving a one-year suspension for the Cape Town ball-tampering affair, was dismissed by Broad seven times within the space of 104 balls in 2019.
Warner went on to average just 9.50 in the series that was tied 2-2.
Now he’s set for a shot at redemption in 2023 with the news that Broad and Anderson intend on playing for some time yet.
In a separate interview with BBC Test Match Special, McCullum praised the duo as “incredible humans” who haven’t lost the passion to perform.
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“For them to still have that desire and determination to not just get better and perform for themselves but also to pass on information to give other guys freedom in the changing room and in the fight and competition makes them pretty unique characters,” he said.
“I think those guys have still got a lot to offer in the next few years and hopefully that is where their head is at as well because they are two of the all-time greats.”
Broad was the star of England’s third Test win over South Africa this week, taking 4-41 and 3-45 as he went three wickets past Glenn McGrath’s all-time wickets tally of 563.
Anderson meanwhile sits on 667, closing in on Shane Warne’s all-time Australian total of 708.
