Alex Chapman: Retirement of England legend James Anderson provides template NZ Cricket can learn from

OPINION: Despite what you’re led to believe as a kid, not everyone gets a fairytale finish.

Sport has this uncannily cruel way of taking the script, screwing it up, biffing it in the bin and lighting it on fire.

Very rarely do athletes genuinely get to go out both on top and on their terms.

Even some of the greatest ever - Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams - didn’t have the curtain fall at a time when they still stood in the spotlight, but there are ways to manage it.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have shown that with James Anderson.

He won’t get to bow out exactly how and when he wants - only he knows what that may have looked like - but the relationship between England’s greatest fast-bowler and selectors has allowed him to do so in a dignified way.

His imminent departure has been masterful man management - that’s not to say it was perfect.

News leaking in the media before Anderson told family and friends wouldn’t have been ideal, but it was handled with the respect and commonsense that both a player with 700 test wickets and the team deserved.

Anderson wanted to go on, he was open in that, and it’s an enormous credit to him that, at 41, it took a tap on the shoulder to tell him to pull stumps.

His competitive hunger was so great, his coach had to travel 18,000 kilometres to turn off the stove and slowly start to starve the veteran.

He deserved that in-person conversation, which shows what a fabulous communicator Brendon McCullum is that he chose to fly from New Zealand to England to have the chat, rather than opting for the easy option of Zoom or a phone call - that just wouldn’t have been right.

That heart-to-heart wasn’t the only reason for McCullum’s visit, but you can bet it was high on the to-do list.

The pair, alongside England men's cricket managing director Rob Key, met at a hotel, with McCullum leading what would end up being a 90-minute discussion. There have been reports of golf being involved... and red wine wouldn’t be surprising.

As has been the case since he took over, other teams can take a leaf out of Baz’s book.

Sorry Black Caps fans, like it or not, there’ll be a few careers on these shores soon coming to an end. With every tournament squad naming comes questions around the passing of a Golden Generation?

Trent Boult, 34, is already not a centrally contracted player and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the upcoming T20 World Cup is his last time in black or, in this case, teal.

Dear friend and long-time opening partner Tim Southee is 35, and fellow-paceman Neil Wagner already bid a tearful farewell last summer.

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson is, well, Kane Williamson. He’ll do it when he’s ready, you'd think and there won't be any encouragement needed.

These conversations will need to be had and not just with that trio, but others in years to come.

Like England, at some stage, they have to start looking and planning for the future. They’ll need to look at significant events and consider, "Will this player be here then?"

Eventually, if not already, the answer will be no.

What coach Gary Stead and management can’t use as an excuse is a lack of time - McCullum made the effort.

'Made' is the key word.

There has to be positive intent behind it. Fittingly, that's how McCullum has encouraged his players to take on the game.

They may not publicly admit it - or even to their nearest and dearest - but I’m sure some figures within NZ Cricket, either current or previous, wish they'd handled certain sagas differently.

From what I understand, Martin Guptill has barely spoken to anyone from the NZC hierarchy over the last couple of years, let alone Stead, while Colin Munro was open in his surprise, when Stead’s name popped up on his phone in January, gauging his interest in the T20 World Cup.

There’s a way of dealing with aging and out-of-form players, and then there's not.

There's a clear change at the top since all of that happened. Scott Weenink’s now chief executive and Stead won't be there forever - his contract’s up at the end of the World Test Championship cycle, although it wouldn’t be surprising if he sticks around again.

Regardless of who has to have the chat, a flight, game of golf, bottle of red and open conversation may be all that it takes.

Alex Chapman is a Newshub sports reporter

OPINION: Despite what you’re led to believe as a kid, not everyone gets a fairytale finish.

Sport has this uncannily cruel way of taking the script, screwing it up, biffing it in the bin and lighting it on fire.

Very rarely do athletes genuinely get to go out both on top and on their terms.

Even some of the greatest ever - Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams - didn’t have the curtain fall at a time when they still stood in the spotlight, but there are ways to manage it.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have shown that with James Anderson.

He won’t get to bow out exactly how and when he wants - only he knows what that may have looked like - but the relationship between England’s greatest fast-bowler and selectors has allowed him to do so in a dignified way.

His imminent departure has been masterful man management - that’s not to say it was perfect.

News leaking in the media before Anderson told family and friends wouldn’t have been ideal, but it was handled with the respect and commonsense that both a player with 700 test wickets and the team deserved.

Anderson wanted to go on, he was open in that, and it’s an enormous credit to him that, at 41, it took a tap on the shoulder to tell him to pull stumps.

His competitive hunger was so great, his coach had to travel 18,000 kilometres to turn off the stove and slowly start to starve the veteran.

He deserved that in-person conversation, which shows what a fabulous communicator Brendon McCullum is that he chose to fly from New Zealand to England to have the chat, rather than opting for the easy option of Zoom or a phone call - that just wouldn’t have been right.

That heart-to-heart wasn’t the only reason for McCullum’s visit, but you can bet it was high on the to-do list.

The pair, alongside England men's cricket managing director Rob Key, met at a hotel, with McCullum leading what would end up being a 90-minute discussion. There have been reports of golf being involved... and red wine wouldn’t be surprising.

As has been the case since he took over, other teams can take a leaf out of Baz’s book.

Sorry Black Caps fans, like it or not, there’ll be a few careers on these shores soon coming to an end. With every tournament squad naming comes questions around the passing of a Golden Generation?

Trent Boult, 34, is already not a centrally contracted player and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the upcoming T20 World Cup is his last time in black or, in this case, teal.

Dear friend and long-time opening partner Tim Southee is 35, and fellow-paceman Neil Wagner already bid a tearful farewell last summer.

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson is, well, Kane Williamson. He’ll do it when he’s ready, you'd think and there won't be any encouragement needed.

These conversations will need to be had and not just with that trio, but others in years to come.

Like England, at some stage, they have to start looking and planning for the future. They’ll need to look at significant events and consider, "Will this player be here then?"

Eventually, if not already, the answer will be no.

What coach Gary Stead and management can’t use as an excuse is a lack of time - McCullum made the effort.

'Made' is the key word.

There has to be positive intent behind it. Fittingly, that's how McCullum has encouraged his players to take on the game.

They may not publicly admit it - or even to their nearest and dearest - but I’m sure some figures within NZ Cricket, either current or previous, wish they'd handled certain sagas differently.

From what I understand, Martin Guptill has barely spoken to anyone from the NZC hierarchy over the last couple of years, let alone Stead, while Colin Munro was open in his surprise, when Stead’s name popped up on his phone in January, gauging his interest in the T20 World Cup.

There’s a way of dealing with aging and out-of-form players, and then there's not.

There's a clear change at the top since all of that happened. Scott Weenink’s now chief executive and Stead won't be there forever - his contract’s up at the end of the World Test Championship cycle, although it wouldn’t be surprising if he sticks around again.

Regardless of who has to have the chat, a flight, game of golf, bottle of red and open conversation may be all that it takes.

Alex Chapman is a Newshub sports reporter

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