Swing bowler feels fit enough to keep bowling until the next home series where he'll be 37, with 500 Test wickets on his mind
Anderson keen to push on until 2019 Ashes
England fast bowler James Anderson has no plans on pulling up stumps on his career in the near future, setting his sights on the 2019 Ashes in the UK.
Anderson has terrorised batsman with prodigious swing and seam movement since debuting at Lord's in 2003 as a raw 20-year-old.
He was the first Englishman to take 400 Test wickets, and overall, he's taken 433 wickets at 29.18 in 113 Tests.
The right-armer, who turns 34 in July, has battled injury in recent times, but has set his sights on meeting Australia one last time on his home turf.
And eclipse another record along the way.
"In the back of my mind I think I can get 500 Test wickets," Anderson told The Telegraph UK.
"And what has helped me during the last three or four years has been thinking about staying as fit as possible so I get on the field.
"Then I can contribute to us winning games. If I do that and stay in the team it means I will get wickets.
"I would like to play the 2019 Ashes. I will be 37 then."
If Anderson's fitness and form hold up until 2019, he would become the oldest fast bowler to play in an Ashes series since Derbyshire's Les Jackson played his second, and final, Test in July 1961.
Image Id: ~/media/FB430E0B9ECB4D32B629A854AE530DC3 Image Caption: Anderson was forced off injured in the third Test against Australia // GettyA calf injury ruled Anderson out of the first Test against South Africa last December, making it the third match in the past six the seamer had missed.
While he returned to play the remaining three Tests, Anderson managed only seven wickets at 43 runs apiece.
"You get to a certain age and people start saying, ‘Oh is he losing his pace?’ Where I am at the minute is I feel as fit as I have ever been," Anderson said.
"I feel I can still get it down the other end. I guess it is an extra incentive to keep going, to prove people wrong.
"You spend all your career trying to prove people wrong. It is the same now."
Anderson will also no doubt have his eyes on England's next visit to Australia in 2017-18, where he will seek to improve on the 43.92 average he carried during the 2013-14 whitewash.
Anderson's three worst performances in terms of average in series of three Tests or more are all against Australia. In addition to the 2013-14 series, Anderson has posted marks of 82.60 in three Tests of the 2006-07 Ashes and 45.16 in the home series of 2009 when England produce a series of Graeme Swann-friendly tracks.
When the day does come to hang up the spikes, Anderson wants to stay involved in cricket in some capacity, whether it be coaching or commentary.
"The game has been amazing to me. So I want to stay but whether that is coaching full-time I am not sure," he said.
"It is a full-time job on the road travelling away from your family if you do at international level.
"Mentoring sounds more feasible. Dipping in and out trying to pass things on.
"I worked for Sky (Sports) during the World Twenty20. That was a great opportunity to try it.
"I have a good analytical brain so if I can get it across in the right way that could be a possibility as well."