Sir Andrew Strauss believes the decision to drop James Anderson and Stuart Broad will help the England team develop but insisted they were not too strong personalities for Joe Root to manage.
The leading wicket-takers were shock omissions for next month’s tour of the West Indies when the squad was announced on Tuesday.
Strauss, who is interim managing director of England men’s cricket, caretaker head coach Paul Collingwood and lead scout James Taylor made the call to discard the duo for the three Tests in the Caribbean.
“It was a very hard conversation (with them). All I can say is I hope they understood the thinking behind it and what we’re trying to achieve here and also that they got the message very strongly that this isn’t the end for them.
“We want them fired up and ready to go in the summer and putting their names forward for selection.
“Of course it’s a high-profile decision and we know there’s going to be a lot of interest in it, but we feel like we’re doing it for the right reasons and this is going to help the England team to develop at a time when it really needs to develop quickly.”
During Strauss’ difficult conversations with the seamers, he gave no indication they were ready to call it a day in Test cricket, with Anderson having 640 scalps to his name and Broad not far behind on 537.
Strauss made a similar call regarding the pair in 2015 when they were phased out of the white-ball side following a poor World Cup campaign.
But he added: “No, I didn’t get the impression from either of them that this is the end of the road or that they saw it as the end of the road for them.
“I fully expect them to prepare themselves for the summer and put their names in the frame for selection.
“When the new director of
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