London: England have left bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of their squad to tour the West Indies In March.
Anderson, 39, is England’s all-time leading wicket-taker in Tests with 640 dismissals in 169 matches.
The 35-year-old Broad is second on that list, having taken 537 wickets in 152 matches.
I want to emphasise this does not mean the end for them as England players, said Andrew Strauss, the team’s interim managing director.
Anderson and Broad both played in the recent Ashes series in Australia which England, who are captained by Joe Root, lost 4-0.
In the aftermath of that thrashing, England head coach Chris Silverwood, director of cricket Ashley Giles and assistant coach Graham Thorpe all left their roles.
Strauss has temporarily taken over from Giles and he has appointed Paul Collingwood as England’s interim head coach for the West Indies tour.e’W feel that it is important to look at some exciting new bowling potential and give some added responsibility to other players who have featured previously, added Strauss.
‘No-one doubts the quality and experience that James and Stuart bring to the England set-up. It will be up to the new managing director and permanent head coach to decide on whether they will be involved this summer and beyond.
This selection of this squad is the start of a process and a journey to get England Test cricket back to where it needs to be – and the hard work starts now.’
Strauss, Collingwood and head scout James Taylor picked the 16-man squad for the Windies tour.
They have also dropped Dom Bess, Sam Billings, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan, who were also part of the Ashes squad.
Lancashire bowler Saqib Mahmood and spinner Matthew Parkinson have been included and will be aiming to make their Test debuts, while wicketkeeper Ben Foakes returns to the England set-up.
Durham opener Alex Lees and Yorkshire seamer Matthew Fisher have been called up for the first time.