Anderson and Broad have been dropped from England’s Test squad for the upcoming West Indies tour
Burns, Buttler, Hameed, and Malan have been left out of the tour party, but Strauss maintains the door is still open for the famed bowling duo.
Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have been omitted from England’s Test team for the upcoming Caribbean trip, however the door has been left open for the seamers to return to international cricket in the future.
Following Australia’s 4-0 Ashes defeat, Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood, and Graham Thorpe were fired from the management team, and now the famed pair of bowlers with 1,177 Test wickets between them have been added to the list of victims.
Interim director of men’s cricket Andrew Strauss and head coach Paul Collingwood, as well as the resurrected captain, Joe Root, have been in negotiations about the travelling party for the three-Test series against the West Indies, which begins on March 8 in Antigua. Jos Buttler, Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Dom Bess, and Sam Billings are among the six players who did not play in the Ashes series.
Despite the fact that both Anderson, 39, and Broad, 35, are in the latter stages of their careers, there is a solid cricketing case to be made that they are among England’s greatest bowling pool. Despite being misplaced, Broad finished as the team’s second-highest wicket-taker in Australia.
But, in a move reminiscent of England’s white-ball revival, which began in 2015 and culminated in a World Cup victory four years later, Strauss has signed off on a dual omission in the hopes that others will emerge from their shadows.
It remains to be seen whether this prompts either bowler to consider retirement; both are said to have been told that this tour is about exploring new options for the time being, and that the new director of cricket and head coach – who are expected to be appointed before the English summer – will have their own opinions.
