England news: Leaving out Anderson and Broad an ‘earthquake in cricketing terms’

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 and former vice-captain Jos Buttler.

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 Ashes defeat in Australia and the selectors have now turned their attention to the under-performing playing squad.

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Ramprakash told Sky Sports News: “This is seismic. I mean this is really an earthquake in cricketing terms. It seems these two great bowlers may have paid the price for the Ashes defeat.

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“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 and almost 19 years – more than any other pace bowler in history – while Broad, 35, is close behind with 537 in 152 appearances.

Ramprakash added: “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