“I don’t know what the financial situation is at Lancashire, so I don’t want to comment too much on whether it’s right or wrong, but it just didn’t seem to me to be the change that you need to make at that club,” Hussain wrote in his column for Sky Sports.

Calling it “a hugely sad way for Anderson to go out,” he added “I’m just not sure it’s the way you treat such a legend of the club.”

Anderson played the last of his 188 Tests – second only to Sachin Tendulkar – in July 2024 and Hussain said England’s decision to move on from the pacer with 704 wickets “was a marginal call at best”.

England were thrashed 1-4 in the last Ashes Down Under and while Hussain didn’t say Anderson could have changed the outcome, he claimed the veteran would have held his own.

“He would have bowled alright in Australia last winter, I tell you. He’d have bowled better than some that bowled out there and he bowled better than some that bowled for Lancashire this summer and have done for the last 26 years,” adding “I can’t believe that he’s going to be treated like this and he deserves a bit better.”
However, Hussain believes Lancashire’s decision may not necessarily bring Anderson’s illustrious career to an end.

“I’d say most counties in the country would take Anderson, even at the age of 44. When I watched clips of him this summer, he still had that magic about him and the hunger,” Hussain, one of the shrewdest cricket commentators and one of the most observant and frank voices in the game, said.

“His skill is just incredible – the control of the ball, the way he changed from being a swing bowler to a wobble seam bowler and a swing bowler, his hunger, his fitness and his longevity. I personally think Lancashire are a better side with a 44-year-old Anderson than without.”