JAMES ANDERSON will have to wait at least another year before he receives a knighthood.
Record-breaking bowler Anderson, 38, was being considered as a ‘Sir’ in the New Year’s Honours list.
But his name was excluded and he is now unlikely to be knighted until he stops playing for England.
It was reported by the Sunday Times that Anderson was overlooked because he would be a target for sledging in next winter’s Ashes series.
A source said, perhaps only half-seriously: “I don’t think we’d send out Jimmy Anderson to face the Australians with a knighthood.”
Paul Collingwood was famously mocked by Shane Warne for his MBE as part of England’s Ashes-winning squad in 2005 – he scored just seven and ten in one Test.
Anderson’s close friend Sir Alastair Cook was knighted after he quit international cricket in 2018.
Anderson, who has an end named after him at Old Trafford, is the only fast bowler in history to take 600 Test wickets.
He arrived with the England squad in Sri Lanka on Sunday and says he wants to continue playing for as long as possible.
