England captain Ben Stokes has expressed his hope to see legendary fast bowler James Anderson take all 20 wickets in his 188th and final Test. As Anderson gears up for his last appearance on the field against West Indies, Stokes believes that Anderson's skills remain world-class, but the time has come to prepare for the upcoming Ashes series in Australia next year.

With an eye on the Ashes series in 18 months, England has started building a team capable of winning the series on Australian soil for the first time since the 2010/11 season. One of the significant decisions involves dropping James Anderson, a move that reflects the team's forward-thinking approach.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Stokes reminisced about Stuart Broad's retirement and his desire to go out on top. He suggested that Anderson should have a similar approach. "I hope he takes all 20 wickets if I’m being honest. I listened to Stuart talk about his retirement and wanting to go out on top and there was one thing he said that even made me think about when the time comes for me to go. He said: ‘I didn’t want a new player to come in and go I thought Stuart Broad was meant to be good. I thought: ‘Yeah that is a good thing to think about.’"

Despite acknowledging Anderson's continued excellence, Stokes emphasised the importance of making tough decisions for the team's future. "Jimmy’s skillset is obviously still good enough for international cricket. But we have to make big decisions and we have got the Ashes to think about in 18 months’ time. Nobody will ever say, ‘Oh is that Jimmy Anderson? I thought he was meant to be good’ because he is still incredible."

Stokes also stressed that decision-making should not be influenced by external opinions but should focus on what is best for the team. "A decision maker can't make a decision based on what other people might think about it. I base my decisions on what I think is best for the team here and now but with this one there was Australia in mind."

He continued, "It is a tough place to be when you make these decisions because they are big calls but we have to go with what we think is right for the team going forward. We have got to be big enough and brave enough to make those decisions."

Reflecting on the need for progress, Stokes added, "If you look at how much time there has been from our last series up until this one, there has been a lot of time to think where we want to take the team to the next level. In sport if you're not thinking about progression then you end up standing still and one thing I don't want to see as captain of this team is us standing still."