James Anderson and Stuart Broad both expected to be left out of England Test squad for West Indies tour | Cricket News

Joe Root stays on as captain with Paul Collingwood named as interim head coach; Experienced duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad set to be left out; Durham opener Alex Lees in line for first Test call-up

Stuart Broad and James Anderson are set to be omitted from England’s Test squad to face the West Indies

James Anderson and Stuart Broad are both expected to be left out of England’s squad to face the West Indies.

Anderson is England’s record Test wicket-taker with 640 wickets with Broad second in the list with 537 scalps.

Durham opener Alex Lees is in the frame for a first Test call-up when England confirm their squad later on Tuesday. Lees, 28, captained the England Lions in Australia and would offer another top-order option after Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed struggled in Australia.

Jos Buttler is likely to miss out after a poor Ashes series which culminated in a broken finger and him missing the final test, with Surrey keeper Ben Foakes a possible recall.

Elsewhere, Lancashire trio of middle-order batsman Josh Bohannon, spinner Matt Parkinson and fast bowler Saqib Mahmood are all in contention.

More to follow…

Atherton: England and Root must take responsibility

Michael Atherton says Joe Root and his England team need to take responsibility for their poor performances over the winter in losing the Ashes series 4-0 in Australia.

Managing director of England men’s cricket, Ashley Giles, and head coach Chris Silverwood both lost their jobs last week, with Sir Andrew Strauss replacing Giles on an interim basis and Paul Collingwood announced on Monday as coach for the upcoming three-Test tour of the West Indies.

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Michael Atherton says Paul Collingwood’s appointment as England’s interim head coach ‘makes sense’, and believes he is a ‘contender’ for the permanent job.

Strauss gave Root his backing to continue as captain of the Test team for the series in the Caribbean, and while Athers agrees its “probably the right thing” to stick with him as skipper for now, he said the “focus has to come back on the players and the captain.”

On Root keeping the captaincy, Atherton said: “It’s a short-term appointment as such because Strauss made it clear, he’s right behind Joe Root for now, but that appointment is very much in the hands of whoever the director of cricket will be.

“It’s probably the right thing to stick with him for now. I do think the focus has to come back on the players and the captain.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the coaches over the last few weeks, but captain and the players need to take responsibility for performance.

“Joe Root has been party to many of those decisions that have cost other people their jobs, and it’s really only a lack of alternatives that has determined that he continues to lead England in the Caribbean.

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“Whether that will be the case beyond the tour, who knows? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Atherton added: “I think there had to be some changes to the management of the team.

“As painful as it is, I think they had to make some changes given how the team have performed for the last year or so and given the way the Ashes went.”