Jimmy Anderson will be impossible to replace for England but sentiment cannot cloud logic - he does not fit the bill for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes' next stab at the Ashes, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH

It says everything about the esteem in which Jimmy Anderson is held that Brendon McCullum took a round trip of over 20,000 miles to tell him his Test career was nearing its end.

The news was inevitable, perhaps: Anderson turns 42 in July, taking him well past the normal sell-by date for an international fast bowler. Even so, it comes as a shock.

Turn on the TV during any England Test in the 21st century, and the chances were Anderson was swinging the new ball this way and that, scowling as he went about his work but secretly loving every minute. He will be impossible to replace.

Sentiment, though, cannot cloud the logic. For all the frisson caused by Ben Stokes’s Bazballers, England’s Test team are still judged by whether they hold the Ashes urn — and since 2017-18 it has belonged to Australia. McCullum’s contract as head coach ends after the trip Down Under in 2025-26, and he wants to hit Australia with pace. With the best will in the world, Anderson does not fit the bill.

McCullum, who travelled from his native New Zealand to tell Anderson in person, could have been even more ruthless. England play 18 Tests between now and the Ashes opener, and might have used the whole lot to sort out the fast-bowling runners and riders for Australia. That would have allowed Anderson to sign off on the personal high of the 700th Test wicket he took against India at Dharamsala in March — a landmark he once imagined would persuade him to call it a day.

On Friday night, England were giving little away about how his farewell summer might pan out, while Mail Sport understands that Anderson is unhappy not to have been able to choose the circumstances of his retirement. But for two reasons it makes sense to have him around for the six matches against West Indies and Sri Lanka, starting in July.

First, he remains a frightening prospect in English conditions for batsmen unaccustomed to the moving ball, despite his underwhelming contribution to last summer’s Ashes, when his five wickets cost 85 each. While McCullum and captain Stokes want to plan for the future, they also want to thrive in the present, and England have not won a full-blown Test series since visiting Pakistan in late 2022.

Second, Anderson’s experience is peerless. Even if he plays in only two or three of the six summer Tests — including, you would think, a final hurrah on home turf at Old Trafford when Sri Lanka visit in August — he can double up in the dressing room as a mentor for the next generation.

For the likes of Matt Potts, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Ollie Robinson — assuming he can convince the hierarchy of his fitness and commitment — Anderson will be a mine of information and wisdom the like of which they will never see again.

And yet it almost feels impolite to write a cricketing obituary while there are still wickets to take, openers to outwit, balls to swing.

Nine more victims and Anderson will overhaul Shane Warne’s Test tally of 708, leaving him second in the hall of fame behind Muttiah Muralitharan. If he can claim 13, he will join those two as the only bowlers to pick up 1,000 international wickets across Tests, ODIs and T20s. Astonishingly, nine years after his final ODI, he remains comfortably England’s leading one-day wicket-taker, with 269.

Anderson’s genius straddles eras as much as it ticks off stats. When he picked up the first of his 32 Test five-fors on debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003, his team-mates included Alec Stewart, who is now 61 and will retire as Surrey’s director of cricket at the end of the season; Rob Key, who is now England’s managing director; and Mail Sport’s Nasser Hussain, long established as one of the game’s best broadcasters.

If it felt like the end of an era when Stuart Broad called it a day at the Oval last summer, then Anderson’s impending retirement seems even more seismic.

His great days were perhaps not as memorable as Broad’s, who saved his best for Australia and, correspondingly, stole more headlines. But they were more consistent, and all the more remarkable for it. His total of 187 Test caps, with power to add, is surpassed only by India batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar.

Those who argue that Anderson has racked up the numbers only through longevity usually fail to answer a simple question: if longevity is so easy, why has no other Test seamer lasted as long?

Equally, if he was the one-trick pony some of his overseas critics discerned, how did he take 92 wickets in Asia at 27 apiece?

But this is a moment to give thanks, not pick fights. When Anderson held a shiny red Dukes ball in his hand, when the sky was grey and the pitch green, the sense of anticipation was like no other. Enjoy him this summer, while you still can.