Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad face the prospect of their record-breaking Test careers coming to an abrupt end after England responded to the winter’s Ashes mauling by dropping eight players for next month’s Caribbean tour.
A week on from Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood and Graham Thorpe being sacked on the management side of things, the fallout from the Australian nightmare bled into the playing group when Andrew Strauss, the interim director of men’s cricket, named a new-look, 16-man squad for the three-Test series that begins in Antigua on 8 March.
Anderson and Broad – with 321 caps and 1,177 Test wickets between them – represent the highest-profile casualties exactly a month on from blocking out a draw in Sydney to avert a whitewash defeat. Jos Buttler, Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Sam Billings and Dom Bess also make way as part of the cull.
An injection of fresh energy comes in the shape of four uncapped players – the Yorkshire seamer Matt Fisher, the Durham opener Alex Lees and the Lancashire seam/spin pairing of Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson – plus a return for Surrey’s velvet-gloved wicketkeeper, Ben Foakes, behind the stumps.
While the majority of the players can scarcely quibble after such a chastening campaign in Australia, the enduring excellence of Anderson and Broad – though aged 39 and 35 respectively, the pair’s numbers continue to stack up – means their omissions will need further explanation when Strauss speaks at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain, Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)
It was Strauss who moved the pair on at the start of England’s white-ball reboot in 2015 and, after a selection meeting that also featured Paul Collingwood, the interim head coach for the forthcoming tour, and James Taylor, the head scout, the former captain is banking on the same play working for Joe Root’s flatlining Test team.
Both senior players are understood to be shocked by the decision although neither is expected to make a snap call on their respective futures. The pair have central contracts that run until 1 October and announcing international retirement would see them forgoing the best part of a year’s salary.
Strauss has also stressed that the next director of men’s cricket and the head coach this person hires – two roles hoped to be sewn up in time for the start of the English summer – will likely have their thoughts on the subject, even if it is clear that Strauss believes others can blossom only out of their shadows.
In the official squad release, Strauss said: “With the start of a new cycle, it has allowed the selection panel to refresh the Test squad with a particular focus on competing away from home. We felt that it was time to draw a line after the Ashes defeat, look forward and give some impetus with an influx of new players.”
Of Anderson and Broad, he said: “I want to emphasise this does not mean the end for them as England players. We 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. 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.”
The 2004 tour of the Caribbean was the last time an England Test touring party did not feature at least one of Anderson and Broad and also their only away series victory over West Indies in the past 54 years; Root, hugely fortunate to remain as captain after a record nine defeats in 2021, will need to overcome history the hard way.
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The 31-year-old has also lost one of his most trusted lieutenants in Buttler, who after three years of heavy investment failed to fire in Australia. The wicketkeeper’s tour ended with a broken finger, a batting average of 15.28 and memories of some harrowing dropped catches, such that white-ball specialism looks his likely career path now.
Among those fortunate to earn reprieves are Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes, the former having averaged 11.16 from six innings in Australia and the latter now offered one last chance to show he can perform overseas. Woakes looks set to share the new ball with Ollie Robinson, while Mark Wood – arguably the one player to emerge from the Ashes with his reputation enhanced – will offer a point of difference through his extra pace.
Lees, who averaged 39 for Durham in the County Championship last summer, will almost certainly open alongside Zak Crawley after both Burns and Hameed paid for their low-key tours. Root appears set for a return to No 3 given a lack of alternatives – he tends to face the hard new ball anyway – and it may be that Jonny Bairstow, the sole centurion in Australia, moves above Ben Stokes. The latter pulled out of this weekend’s Indian Premier League auction citing a desire to prioritise his Test career; Root, who replied “why wouldn’t you want class like that?” when asked after the Ashes if he wanted Anderson and Broad to plough on, will be leaning on his vice-captain more than ever.
