James Anderson targets five more years with England

James Anderson says he still enjoys playing international cricket and hopes to play for another 'five years' with England.

Anderson, 33, has played 109 Tests, passing Sir Ian Botham as England's all-time leading wicket taker and can reasonably expect to go up to sixth in the global list once this winter's assignments in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa are done.

"I'm loving it at the minute, loving bowling, loving playing, enjoying taking wickets and the challenges we've got ahead," said Anderson. "Why can't I play for another five years?

"I'm going to keep going till my body can't take any more. I think I'm noticing the quality of beds more now, and how my back pulls up after a dodgy night's sleep.

"People keep mentioning the age, and everything, so you do think about it. [But] I feel fit and strong - and I'm really enjoying it."

Anderson has had to work especially hard for his seven wickets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but tops England's tour bowling averages with 19.14.

But the hard yards of the UAE are about to get tougher, with the third and final Test taking place at another unresponsive surface in Sharjah, according to Anderson.

"It's renowned for being the flatter of the three," Anderson said. "Our stat man was very kind to put a few things up on the wall about seam movement and swing percentages at the start of the series - and Sharjah was three percent seam movement, which was pretty depressing from a bowler's point of view.

"So if I bowled 100 balls, three of them would seam."

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The task appears thankless at times for England's seamers, especially after captain Alastair Cook lost the toss in the first two Tests - consigning the tourists to more than 250 overs in the field.

"It is pretty brutal," said Anderson. "We've played nine good days of cricket and one horrendous session when we shot ourselves in the foot. That has put us in this position where we are 1-0 down.

"[But] we still feel quite positive - because we've played some good cricket, and it could be 1-1 or 1-0 to us in different circumstances."