England have thrown up quite a few surprises as they named the squad for the upcoming three-match Test series against the West Indies. The 0-4 Ashes defeat has led England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to take some tough calls. The Three Lions haven’t included the veteran fast bowling duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Anderson remains the most successful fast bowler in the history of Test cricket and also did reasonably well on the tour of Australia. He has had his fair share of injury concerns, but they haven’t deterred him into quitting the game. Broad was also in and out of the national team during the five-match Test series on Australian soil.
Instead of the veteran pacers, the interim selection panel, consisting of James Taylor, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss gave maiden Test call-ups to Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher. Mahmood is currently a part of the Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL and also represented the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League (BBL).
Strauss, England’s interim managing director, said that the calls have been taken after inputs from Root, who himself has faced a lot of brickbats over Test captaincy. As many as eight players, who were part of the Ashes, have been dropped. Dom Bess, Jos Buttler, Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Sam Billings and Dawid Malan also missed the bus for the West Indies Tests.
England cricket has gone through some major overhaul recently after Chris Silverwood, their head coach and chief selector, was sacked following the team’s poor show in Australia. Ben Foakes has earned a recall in the Test team in Buttler’s absence.
Alex Lees, who plays for Durham in England’s domestic cricket, is set to make his debut. Lees is one of the two opening batters in the squad along with Zak Crawley.
The Test series is set to start on March 8 with the first game at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua.
England squad
Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Joe Root (C), Jonny Bairstow, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wk), Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton, Saqib Mahmood, Mark Wood, Matthew Parkinson, Matthew Fisher, Jack Leach
In the meantime, the fans are a tad dejected after Anderson wasn’t picked for the red-ball series despite being fit as a fiddle even into his late 30s.
Here’s how the netizens reacted to James Anderson getting dropped
🚨 James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been dropped from England's Test squad to tour West Indies next month 🚨
— Masoom🇵🇰 (@Masoom9494) February 9, 2022
James Anderson nd broad in #IPLMegaAuction Csk biding for them🤣😭
— 🇮🇳 Aman 💙 (@Hitmanlegend45) February 9, 2022
A bold move by the ECB to drop veterans like James Anderson and Stuart Broad
Were they really dropped or is there a twist in the tale?
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) February 9, 2022
James Anderson and Stuart Broad should IPL teams support staff as protest.#England #IPLAuction2022
— Absolute fake Daniel Alexander (@mrcool0283) February 9, 2022
No James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the tour of West Indies 🤯
Possibly the end of the iconic duo in Test cricket? #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/oBVgWWz56Q
— CricFit (@CricFit) February 9, 2022
I'll say that it's good decision of England cricket to leave James Anderson and Stuart Broad but they will get lack of experience and new bowlers will face the problem in that rocky conditions, but blaming Joe Root about that is completely illogical thing to talk. #ENGvWI
— Manavdeep Singh (@CricvocateManav) February 9, 2022
England's all-time leading Test wicket takers James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been dropped for the three-Test tour against West Indies.
Fast bowlers Anderson and Broad have taken a combined 1,177 wickets in Test cricket. #Anderson #Broad@venkysplacepic.twitter.com/BAbiJuOmMt— venkysplace (@venkysplace) February 9, 2022
"In respect of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, I want to emphasise that this doesn't mean the end for them as England players" : Andrew Strauss #WIvENG
— 🅒🅡🅘︎🅒︎🄲🅁🄰🅉🅈𝗠𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗨™ 🇮🇳❤️ (@MSDianMrigu) February 9, 2022
James Anderson’s last moment in cricket should’ve been with the new Dukes Cherry, pitching it in the middle and leg, taking it away from the right hander and hitting the top of off, and the stumps cartwheeling.
Not defending a half tracker ball from Steve Smith to draw a test— 79(201) at Cape Town (@Ton71ComingSoon) February 9, 2022
England Cricket team in last one week:-
•Head Coach stepped down.
•Director Stepped down.
•Assistant Coach Stepped down.
•James Anderson dropped from Test.
•Stuart Broad dropped from Test Squad.
•Jos Buttler dropped from Test Squad.— The Global Sports (@TheGlobalSp0rts) February 9, 2022
The way James Anderson and Chris Broad were stretching their career…#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/4RaCqSuH61
— Siddharth Chhaya – સિદ્ધાર્થ છાયા 🇮🇳 (@siddtalks) February 9, 2022
