James Anderson can still surprise us all and continue to break records, feels Alastair Cook

Since pulling out of the Ashes, Anderson has been spending the off-season working with the medical team at Manchester City in a bid to regain his fitness ahead of the South Africa tour next month. But given his age and the emergence of Jofra Archer, several former players and pundits — including another former captain, Michael Vaughan — have said that perhaps it is time to end the record-breaking Anderson-Broad show, which has realised a total of 1042 Test wickets — Anderson himself has 575 wickets in 149 Tests.

"You never know with Jimmy. He's surprised us all, all the time. I remember going into a press conference as captain a few years ago, and saying there's no way that we'll get five Tests out of Jimmy and Stuart , and they surprised us all with their fitness record,” Cook said, reported ESPNCricinfo.

"I know how devastated he was after the Edgbaston Test match. It was a horrendous feeling for him, but his desire and hunger is incredible. He wants to come back and wants to play, and while you've got that, why wouldn't you?" he said.

But the veteran fast bowler seems to be getting better with age, as he finished the 2018 home summer as the top-ranked Test bowler in the world at an average less than 27.

"His record over the last couple of years is getting better and better. Father Time catches up with everyone, and there will be a time when he moves on, but while he wants to do it and is able to do it, we should appreciate him. But, speaking to him recently, he wants to keep breaking records for England and keep helping England win games of cricket, and I'm sure he will," Cook said

Cook, who bowed out of international cricket with an emotional century in his final Test against India at The Oval in September 2018, has gone on to play a key role in Essex's second County Championship title in three years this year. Still only 34, Cook scored 913 first-class runs in 14 matches at 45.65, including a pair of vital innings in the title decider against Somerset at Taunton.

"2005 was the last season in which I played every game [for Essex] and part of the reason for playing on after England was to experience that again, to play with guys like Ryan [Ten Doeschate] and Ravi , who signed for Essex at the same time as me in 2003. To go back and play a lot of cricket with those guys meant a lot to me, actually. I'm not sure I'll keep playing until I'm 40, but I will very much take each year as it comes. And if we have the sort of success that we had this year, then that obviously makes it easier," Cook added.