Anderson 'sad' and 'quite shocked' by Lancashire release

Anderson, 44, captained Lancashire and took 50 County Championship wickets at 17.68 this season, but could not prevent the club from finishing second-last in Division Two. He was told last month in a meeting with Paul Farbrace and Richard Kenyon, the club's new director of cricket and chief executive, that his contract would not be renewed for 2027.

Farbrace explained last week that he did not see Anderson as part of his medium-term plan to "rebuild our men's squad" and challenge for the Division One title in three or four years' time, prompting the "incredibly difficult decision" to release him at the end of his contract.

"I went in for what I thought was a conversation about how the team moves forward, because obviously it wasn't a great year for the team," Anderson said. "Being captain, I thought it was sort of just a chat about that.

"And then a couple of minutes in, I realised it wasn't a conversation; I was just being told that they thought the best way for the team to move forward is without me. Obviously, I was quite shocked. It was quite brief and, yeah, that was it."

Anderson said that he was told he could "control the narrative" on a potential announcement and was caught off-guard when the story first broke in the Times newspaper a few days later. "That panicked me because I'd not really told Daniella [his wife] what had happened; I'd not told mum and dad what had happened," he said. "It was not a great week, to be honest."

"I don't know what the end looks like," Anderson said, "but obviously I wanted to see my career out with Lancs. I don't know if my career's done - we'll have to wait and see - but it'd be nice, at some point, if someone will let me retire."

He added: "Last year didn't go too well for us on the field and all the way through the season, myself and the head coach [Steven Croft] are like, 'Is it something we're doing? Could we be doing more to help the team play better?' I finished the season thinking, 'Was it something I did, but was I doing something wrong?'

"And then I get told this news and then I'm thinking that even more. I'm thinking, 'God, this is happening again. Is there something fundamentally wrong with me as a person, as a human being?' But your head just sort of races. I just didn't really know what to make of it for a good week. You're thinking, 'God, I'm never going to play cricket again.' All these sorts of things."

Anderson is yet to decide whether he will look for another county for next season. "I'm still sort of trying to process everything, and weigh up what the best way forward for me is, really," he said. When asked if he could picture himself playing for Yorkshire, Lancashire's rivals, he replied: "I wouldn't have thought so."

Stuart Broad, Anderson's former England team-mate, criticised Lancashire's handling of the situation on his podcast this week. "I didn't like it from Lancashire," Broad said on For the Love of Cricket. "It was not done in the right way. I think it was disrespectful. You give your icons or greats of the game a better send-off than that and it shows a lack of leadership at that club."