James Anderson & Stuart Broad left out of England squad for West Indies tour

England have left bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of their squad to tour the West Indies In March.

The 35-year-old Broad is second on that list, having taken 537 wickets in 152 matches.

Anderson and Broad both played in the recent Ashes series in Australia which England lost 4-0.

In the aftermath of that thrashing, England head coach Chris Silverwood, director of cricket Ashley Giles and assistant coach Graham Thorpe all left their roles.

Sir Andrew Strauss has temporarily taken over from Giles and he has appointed Paul Collingwood as England’s interim head coach for the West Indies tour.

England will arrive in Antigua on 25 February and will play a four-day warm-up match starting on 1 March followed by three Tests.

The first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua starts on 8 March.

‘It is not the end for those two’ – analysis

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew

England have dropped both Broad and Anderson for this tour which is quite dramatic stuff. They are ageing, but I don’t think they are very happy about it. They certainly don’t think this is the end of their careers.

It has to come to an end sometime and I think there is the view that this tour is a bit of a holding pattern – there is a very temporary feel about it. There is a new coach and director of cricket to be appointed.

There is a huge amount of flux around English cricket at the moment. It may turn out this trip will turn into a hiding to nothing – they lost last time they went, so it’s an opportunity to look at what there is out there.

What is there to learn from taking Broad and Anderson on this trip? We know exactly what they can do – they’ve been doing it for years.

It is not the end for those two for sure, but it may be a bit of a breath being taken after all the sackings and cullings over the past couple of weeks.

More to follow.

Fixtures

1-4 Tour match (opponents TBC)

8-12 1st Test, Antigua (14:00 GMT)

16-20 2nd Test, Barbados (14:00 GMT)

24-28 3rd Test, Grenada (14:00 GMT/15:00 BST)