James Anderson and Stuart Broad were both "disappointed" after being dropped for England 's upcoming three Test series against the West Indies.
Anderson and Broad were among eight players axed from England's Ashes squad, along with Jos Buttler, Rory Burns, Dawid Malan, Haseeb Hameed, Dom Bess and Sam Billings.
England's interim managing director Sir Andrew Strauss has admitted the pair were left "disappointed" by the decision but insisted they "will very much be in the mix" for selection in the summer.
Speaking to BBC Test Match Special, Strauss said: "They were both disappointed and you wouldn't expect anything else from two of England's greatest bowlers.
"I think it's important to look at the frame in which we’re looking at this tour, the truth is our Test team haven't performed well for a while now and our batting in particular hasn’t been up to the level it needs to be.
"Secondly, if we want to be best team in the world we need to win away from home consistently and we haven't done that. I think we’ve won four out of our last 13 series away from home, that needs to improve.
"This is the start of the new cycle so it's an opportunity to refresh and look forward and with that in mind, we see it as an opportunity to bring some new blood into the bowling resources and also ask some of our existing bowlers to play a slightly different role to one they’ve played before and show a bit more leadership.
"We have the opportunity to do that now, no one is saying Broad and Anderson won’t be picked for this summer and beyond but my job as director of cricket is to give whoever takes over options from which to pick. I think on this tour we can learn more about the options we do have.
"They've been great servants for the game, utterly professional and their performances have been outstanding.
"As a team we have to think there is life beyond them, we need to develop some of the other bowlers and allow them to play a leadership role rather than just a follower.
"We have an opportunity over these five weeks to do that and, as I said, the new coach and the new director of cricket will look at selection for the summer and Broad and Anderson will very much be in the mix."
Strauss also claimed that Buttler's axing after a poor Ashes series both with the bat and behind the stumps does not mark the end of his Test career.
"I don't think so, quite frankly," Strauss told Sky Sports. "Jos has struggled quite a bit over the last 12 months.
"His level of performance hasn't been quite what it was and we've got a guy waiting in the wings in Ben Foakes who is widely acknowledged as the best keeper in the world and is a very good batsman in his own right.
"He deserves his chance, he hasn't let anyone down when he has played cricket for England and hopefully he's going to get a decent run for the time being."
