Steve Harmison slams England’s ‘disgusting’ treatment of James Anderson and Stuart Broad

Steve Harmison has questioned England’s decision to exclude James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the Test team’s upcoming tour of the West Indies and believes it’s ‘disgusting’ how the veteran duo have been treated.

A selection panel including interim director of cricket Sir Andrew Strauss, interim head coach Paul Collingwood and head scout James Taylor met earlier this week select a 16-man party for the three-match series.

Four new faces have joined the squad in the wake of England’s dismal Ashes defeat in Australia, with Alex Lees, Matthew Fisher, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson all in contention to debut in the Caribbean.

But it was the omission of pace bowlers Anderson and Broad which made the headlines and caught many by surprise given they boast 1,177wickets between them over the course of their Test careers.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan said he was ‘quite happy’ with the bold decision to drop Anderson and Broad, but his former team-mate Harmison had the opposite reaction and feels it’s a ‘big gamble’.

‘For an interim management team to make this call, that’s a big, big call and a big, big gamble,’ Harmison told talkSPORT.

‘I can understand Stuart being annoyed and he will be annoyed. Stuart’s a bowler I would have taken to the Caribbean because of the bouncy surfaces.

‘Jimmy can bowl on anything. He’s the best bowler of all time and can bowl on any surface. If there was one tour to give him off this was possibly it, getting him ready for what would be his last hurrah in the summer.

‘But to end their careers this way – because I think this is it and I don’t see them coming back – I don’t think that’s right. I think it’s disgusting actually on two all-time greats.’

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