The veteran English pacer, James Anderson insisted on Monday that his hunger to play isn’t going to die soon as he pul a full stop to the rumor mills regarding his retirement. The 38-year-old pacer managed to get a match haul of 1-97 during England’s three-wicket win in the first Test against Pakistan which triggered the rumors of his retirement. Acknowledging the same, Anderson said that he “did not bowl very well” at his Old Trafford home ground, where one of the ends is named after him.

Talking about the same to the reporters, the veteran pacer said, “If I keep bowling the way I did this week, the opportunity to retire will be taken out of my hands. It will be a selection issue. I’m still hungry to play the game. I think the frustration for me this week was that after one bad game….the sort of whispers (about retirement) that go around, I don’t think that’s really fair. It’s one of those things, everyone has a bad game, every now and then.”

ALSO READ: Brett Lee Feels Virat Kohli Should Delegate His Captaincy In RCB

Anderson is now sighting to become the first fast bowler to scalp 600 or more Test wickets and overhauling the England Test appearance record of 161 held by retired former captain Alastair Cook, one of his best friends in cricket.

Describing his future targets, James Anderson said, “I want to be bowling well and contributing to England winning games of cricket. That’s been my focus throughout my career and will continue to be my focus. If I get 600 wickets then great; if I don’t, then I’m happy with what I’ve got.”

ALSO READ: Yuzvendra Chahal Pays Tribute To Virat Kohli On World Lion Day

As for surpassing the former English opener, Cook’s cap record, which would be a remarkable achievement for a fast bowler, Anderson said that 154 does sound like quite a lot of games, but he quite sure that he has still got quite a few more left in me.

The veteran swing master concluded, “If I can go past Cooky it will probably be the one thing I’ve got up on him.”