Big two fume as Strauss insists it isn’t the end
England chief reveals he had ‘very hard conversation’ with Anderson and Broad
ANDREW STRAUSS admitted yesterday to a ‘very hard conversation’ as he tried to justify the most controversial call of his mass ashes clear-out.
Jimmy anderson and Stuart Broad, two of england’s greatest bowlers, were dropped for next month’s tour of the Caribbean as part of the cull that has claimed one managing director, two senior coaches and eight of the players who crashed to a 4-0 ashes loss.
And the man who, for now, is back at the helm of england cricket said, in his understated way, that two bowlers with more than 1,100 test wickets between them were ‘disappointed’ not to be travelling to antigua in a fortnight. For disappointed read fuming.
‘All I can say is I hope they understood the thinking behind it and what we are trying to achieve here,’ said Strauss after an eventful first week as interim managing director. ‘and also they get the message very strongly that this isn’t the end for them.
‘It was a very hard conversation and, of course, it is a high-profile decision. we know there will be a lot of interest in this but we feel we are doing it for the right reasons and it is going to help the england team at a time when it really needs to develop quickly.’
Those ‘right reasons’ appear to be a desire to ‘refresh’ a woefully underperforming test team and to challenge other senior players to step out of the shadows of anderson and Broad and prove they can be leaders for england.
Strauss said: ‘everyone expects the captain to push the team forward but anyone who
Has played for england knows influential voices behind him are important. we need leaders, not just the captain, and this provides an opportunity for players to become that.
‘In the bowling attack we are looking at the likes of Mark wood and Chris woakes to play more of that role. we expect a lot from Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow as well. they have the chance to pull out the stops and help Joe root.’
The suspicion remains that anderson and Broad as a partnership possessed personalities simply too strong for the captain’s comfort. and that their frustration
In australia at the constant underperformance of the batsmen led to batters-v-bowlers factions within the dressing room.
Whisper it but is this another Kevin Pietersen situation?
Not so insisted Strauss, who closed the door on Pietersen for good when he first became team director in 2015. ‘If they were difficult to handle they wouldn’t have played for so many years,’ said Strauss at Lord’s. ‘It’s hard to criticise either in how they are on and off the field. It would be very harsh on them to see this as an issue that needs to be dealt with.
‘I just feel this is a moment when we have an opportunity to start projecting forward, especially with a view to winning away from home. they will be in the mix for selection come the start of the summer. I’m just trying to create options for the new managing director and head coach.’
What this does not appear to do is give england a better chance of
Winning a test series in the Caribbean — where they have a worse record even than in australia — for only the second time in 54 years.
‘When you are selecting teams you always try to balance winning today and winning tomorrow,’ said Strauss. ‘we feel we have selected a team capable of winning in the west Indies and that is absolutely the intention. But of course we have got half an eye on tomorrow. It’s the start of a new cycle and it would be remiss of us not to take the future into account.’
What root makes of it all remains unknown for now. He said at the end of the ashes he wanted anderson and Broad in the Caribbean but it appears Strauss took responsibility for their absence away from the captain by insisting the decision was made by the new selection panel of himself, interim coach Paul Collingwood and head scout James taylor. ‘Joe
was part of the conversation but he doesn’t have a vote on selection,’ said Strauss.
There was other business for Strauss to address. He said Root has insisted he bats at three rather than his usual spot at four in the Caribbean, Dan Lawrence will be the reserve opener behind another new partnership of Zak Crawley and Alex Lees, and that Ben Foakes deserves his chance ‘as one of the best, if not the best, keeper in the world and a very good batsman in his own right’ ahead of another big figure to be left out, Jos Buttler.
Then there was the issue of Ollie Robinson’s fitness, called into question by bowling coach Jon Lewis in Australia. ‘Ollie has shown he has the potential to be a world-class bowler in all conditions,’ said Strauss. ‘But his conditioning is not what it needs to be and he is working very hard to get that up.’
There are no doubts, of course, about the fitness of Anderson, at 39, and Broad at 35. Nor their quality. But whatever Strauss says, this has the feel of the end of an era. Time will tell if Strauss — a leader who does not get much wrong — has got this one right.