Dale Steyn marvels at James Anderson’s longevity as he opens up about retirement

After Dale Steyn announced his retirement from cricket last week, James Anderson was among those who paid tribute to the legendary South Africa quick.

Responding to Steyn's retirement message on Twitter, Anderson simply wrote: "The Best."

Now, Steyn has opened up about his decision to retire and spoken about the "unbelievable" longevity of Anderson.

Steyn is a year younger than the England star but only played 93 Tests to Anderson's 166, revealing that he "would have loved to keep going" but was struggling mentally with the demands of international cricket.

"Jimmy is a machine and he’s just got bowling down to a tee," Steyn said. "He’s just unbelievable how he keeps going and how he still wants to keep going during this this period now.

"It’s just intense. He wants to keep performing and he’s fit, and he wants to prove that you can be 40, I suppose, even 40 plus and still do what you do what you love doing at the very highest level.

"Imran Tahir is another great example of that. I would have loved to keep going but – physically it wasn’t an issue – I just felt like mentally it was becoming an issue.

"In South Africa, we don’t have the luxury of what the guys in the UK do where you can retire from certain formats to concentrate on others, so that’s why I had to step away from all international cricket.

"I would have preferred to carry on playing white-ball. How many wickets would I have taken in that many Tests?

"I don’t know, a lot probably [laughter] but only if I’d maintained my strike rate which would probably have been impossible over 165 Tests.

"It would have tapered off eventually. We all get old. Except for Jimmy who seems to be getting better, like a good red wine."

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