You Don't Do These Things Worried About What The Reaction Is: Andrew Strauss On Dropping James Anderson And Stuart Broad

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) interim manager Andrew Strauss stood firm on his decision to drop senior bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad from England’s squad for the West Indies Test series.

After the Ashes debacle, Strauss replaced Ashley Giles in the managerial role position on a temporary basis and the first bold decision he took with interim coach Paul Collingwood was to drop the senior pair of Anderson and Broad, who share 1177 Test wickets between them.

I think the reaction was entirely predictable: Andrew Strauss on dropping James Anderson and Stuart Broad

Strauss said that he had already predicted the reaction of dropping the prominent players from the Test side but defended the decision in order to give the opportunity to youngsters and the former England skipper said players have accepted the challenge to rebuild the team.

“I think the reaction was entirely predictable. You don’t do these things worried about what the reaction is; you do them because you think it’s the right thing to do. It’s great to see Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood as part of the England setup.

“I think we’re learning about them all the time, and they’re getting more and more comfortable in this group. And as we said right at the start, it’s forced some of our senior players to have slightly different roles,” Strauss was quoted as saying by Daily Mail. 

“It’s early days, but the feedback I’m getting from the dressing room is they’re accepting the challenge of not having those senior players involved, and I thought the attitude, willingness to do hard graft, spirit and togetherness were there to see in Antigua. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but there were a lot of positives coming out of it,” he added. 

West Indies forced to draw against England in the first Test

England drew the first Test against West Indies in Antigua after senior all-rounder Jason Holder (37) and Nkrumah Bonner (38) batted for two hours to wear down the England bowling attack in their 80-run stand for the fifth wicket. The second Test will be played between March 12-16 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

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