Lack of fury over fate of Broad and Anderson should have ECB worried

The Ashes aftershocks have rumbled on over the past week, and on Tuesday peaked with the news that neither Jimmy Anderson nor Stuart Broad will feature when the so-called “red-ball reset” begins in the Caribbean next month.

Both are known to be hurt to miss out and a touch miffed at being told in a couple of short, sharp phone calls rather than in person. Broad was literally raging against the machine in his final outing – picking a fight with a robot camera that kept moving on the boundary’s edge in Hobart – and his next public utterances should be fascinating.

In the boardroom at the England and Wales Cricket Board, with pictures of the record-breaking pair on the wall, Andrew Strauss tried to explain the rationale. He insisted Anderson and Broad would still be “in the mix” come the summer and this was a case of separating out England’s strategy home and away.

It was also not, he claimed, a case of either being a negative dressing-room presence. “They are exceptional performers on the field and very professional off it, which is why they have played for so long,” said Strauss. “It gives an opportunity at the moment for people to stand up and play leadership roles they haven’t previously.”

On the flip side, hasn’t an environment that has appeared soft for some time now suddenly become even softer? Anderson and Broad may be grouchy old pros at 39 and 35 respectively but they also set a fiercely high standard; more fool the teammate who hasn’t mined their combined 321 caps of nous or been driven to emulate their ongoing commitment to physical conditioning.

Certainly Matthew Fisher, plucked from Yorkshire on promise and one of two uncapped seamers alongside Saqib Mahmood, is disappointed he will not work alongside them.