Strauss: dropping Broad and Anderson for England is a ‘strategic decision’

Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad are insisting their omission from England’s squad to tour West Indies next month is “not the end of the road” and are focused on forcing their way back into the Test side, according to Andrew Strauss.

“I’m not going to say anything other than they were disappointed and I wouldn’t expect anything otherwise,” Strauss, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s interim managing director of men’s cricket, said of their reactions when he delivered the news to them before the squad was announced on Tuesday.

“They take great pride in representing England and they both wanted to be on that tour. There was no impression from either of them that they saw this as the end of the road. I fully expect them to prepare themselves for the summer and put their names in the frame for selection.

“They were very hard conversations. 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, because we want them fired up and ready to go in the summer.

“We know there’s going to be a lot of interest in the decision, 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.”

Anderson said he had “no intention of finishing” after the recent Ashes series and that after conversations with the captain, Joe Root, and other senior players “the message is to keep going”. Last year Broad said he did not expect the team to be rebuilt after the Ashes “because it’s not an ageing team that needs rebuilding. This is a youngish team who need a bit of time and I see myself as a big part of our aim to become the