James Anderson to Be Knighted After 21 Years with England

Following his inclusion in the resignation honors list of former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, James Anderson is expected to be knighted in honor of his record-breaking 21-year England career.

Having taken a national record 704 Test wickets in 188 Test matches, the most ever by a specialist fast bowler and second only to India's Sachin Tendulkar, Anderson, 42, withdrew from England service last year. After making his debut against Zimbabwe at Lord's in May 2003 at the age of 20, he played his final Test match there against the West Indies in July 2024.

Even though he hasn't represented England in white-ball cricket since 2015, he still leads the nation in ODI wicket-taking (269 at 29.22 average). He finished just short of 1,000 wickets for his nation on 991, adding 18 more wickets in T20Is.

Anderson hasn't ended his professional career yet, despite his accomplishments. He is expected to play in a variety of formats for Lancashire this summer, despite his calf injury. He might still follow in the footsteps of Sir Alastair Cook, his long-time England teammate, who continued to play for Essex until his knighthood in 2019.

Anderson stands out among the other five knighthoods on the list. The fifth has been given to filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, while the other four have been given to Sunak's former cabinet colleagues James Cleverley, Jeremy Hunt, Grant Shapps, and Mel Stride.

In recent years, Anderson has become the second former England cricket player to get an honor from a departing Conservative prime minister. Geoffrey Boycott was knighted by Theresa May in 2019, a decision that sparked criticism given Boycott's 1998 conviction on domestic abuse charges by a French court.