Anderson, Broad axing a 'seismic' decision

Former England batter Mark Ramprakash has described the decision to drop James Anderson and Stuart Broad for next month's tour of the West Indies as "seismic".

England's interim management team of Sir Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood, assisted by lead scout James Taylor, have left out the country's leading wicket-takers -- among eight players axed after the Ashes debacle.

Head coach Chris Silverwood, assistant Graham Thorpe and director of men's cricket Ashley Giles all departed their roles in the wake of England's humiliating 4-0 Test series defeat in Australia and the selectors have now turned their attention to the under-performing playing squad.

"This is seismic," Ramprakash told Sky Sports News.

"I mean this is really an earthquake in cricketing terms... I hope it's not the end of their careers but whether they will be in the frame to be selected in the summer, there's a huge question mark.

"Young players learn off great players, by being alongside them, and not having them in the squad does mean there's a huge hole in the England Test side."

Anderson, 39, has taken 640 Test wickets in 169 matches -- more than any other pace bowler in history -- while Broad, 35, is close behind with 537 in 152 appearances.

"I never saw this coming because really there's been so much focus on England's poor batting displays, particularly in Australia, but also last summer, and it seems that these two great bowlers may have paid the price for the Ashes defeat," Ramprakash said.

Joe Root has retained his captaincy for next month's series in the Caribbean and although ex-skipper Michael Atherton said it was "probably the right thing" to keep faith with him, he added the "focus has to come back on the players and the captain".

"It's a