England pacer Stuart Broad believes that his fellow seamer James Anderson is still addicted to cricket at 40 and only getting better with age.
The duo is likely to play a key role for England in the upcoming Ashes, which begins on June 16 at Edgbatson.
Anderson is England’s top wicket-taker in red-ball cricket with 685 wickets and became the oldest player to top the ICC Test rankings earlier this year.
"Jimmy's incredibly competitive. That's his number one strength," Broad said on the Legends of the Ashes podcast, a 10-part series from Global launching on June 15.
"He's probably the most competitive person I've seen bar Jos Buttler in any sport that he plays. But he's very driven. He's an addict to cricket, to be honest. He's an addict to training, an addict to getting better, improving all the time.
"That's showing now, he's 40 and he's probably bowling better now than he was four years ago. It's an incredible testament to himself and the game."
Broad and Anderson have combined to take 1,017 wickets in 134 Tests together and are considered a lethal bowling pair.
"He's probably grown as much in the past year as anyone, with Baz and Stokesy taking over," Broad added. "How I view our partnership is our job is to figure out conditions in those first 10 overs with the new ball quicker than the opposition batters.
"That's when we make breakthroughs and that comes through communication. It's just a constant, like, information stream that comes our way and there's no doubt that that's taken our partnership to the next level."
Schedule
First Test (Edgbaston) - Friday June 16 - Tuesday June 20
Second Test (Lord's) - Wednesday June 28 - Sunday July 2
Third Test (Clean Slate Headingley) - Thursday July 6 - Monday July 10
Fourth Test (Emirates Old Trafford) - Wednesday July 19 - Sunday July 23
Fifth Test (The Kia Oval) - Thursday July 27 - Monday July 31
- Stuart Broad