Former England fast bowler James Anderson has been awarded a knighthood in former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's resignation honours list.

The 42-year-old retired from Test cricket in July having taken 704 wickets, the most by a fast bowler in Test history.

He is still playing for his county Lancashire but has missed the start of the County Championship season with a calf problem.

Only Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Shane Warne (708) have more Test wickets than Anderson, who is out of sight among non-spinners and may never be toppled, with closest challenger and former teammate Stuart Broad retiring last year on 604.

Anderson, who made his first-class debut for Lancashire in 2002, enjoyed his one-day international debut for England against Australia in December of that year, with his Test bow coming in May 2003.

He finished his international career having played 188 Tests, 194 ODIs and 19 T20s and took 991 wickets across the three formats.

An emotional Anderson brought down the curtain on his history-making England career against West Indies at Lord's last summer, making wicketkeeper Josh Da Silva his final victim at the same ground that he started his 21-year story in 2003.

He toasted his farewell with a pint of Guinness as hundreds of fans gathered to pay tribute to their departing hero in front of the famous old pavilion.

Anderson was nudged into international retirement by England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum with one eye on the future.

However, he thinks he could still be playing for another three years.

He has signed a one-year deal with Lancashire for the County Championship and T20 Blast and said at the start of the month: "I am not ruling out playing for another one, two or three years. We'll see how it goes.

"I could get a month in and think 'absolutely not' but I could have a great year, we could win everything and they might want to keep me next year so we'll just have to wait and see.

"This club is a place I love, they helped me so much at the start of my career and throughout, I feel it's nice to try and give something back, give myself to them for a season, maybe more."