The decision to leave me out of West Indies tour has hit me pretty hard: Stuart Broad

England veteran Stuart Broad has admitted of being hit “pretty hard” by his exclusion from the West Indies squad, named by ECB earlier this month following the team’s dismal performance against Australia in the Ashes, which Joe Root and men lost 0-4. Broad was not alone facing the axe, as also not named in the touring party was James Anderson.

England’s primary concern over the last year or so has been their inability to build partnerships and prevent themselves from enduring collapses from reasonably well-placed situations. In that light, changing the face of the bowling unit and excluding two veterans from the scheme of things has been perceived by many as trying so fix what is not messed.

Broad averaged 26 in the Ashes in three Tests and bagged a fifer in the fourth Test in Sydney, the only England did not lose in the five-match affair. Anderson, meanwhile, averaged an even better 23 from as many Tests on the tour. Broad expressed his sadness over not being a part of England’s immediate plans even as Andrew Strauss, the interim director of men’s cricket, has clarified that the call to drop the senior duo is not the end of them.

Could take being dropped if I had let my standards slip: Stuart Broad

“I have to confess that I wasn’t expecting the phone call I received from Andrew Strauss on Tuesday that started with him saying: ‘I’ve got some bad news.’ That’s not what you really want to hear on selection matters, and not something I have heard very often during my career of 152 Test caps,” Broad wrote in his column for the Mail.

“I always try to find a positive in the hand that has been dealt to me. To be honest, though, that’s been quite tricky this time because the decision to leave me out of the tour of West Indies has hit me pretty hard.”

“…From a personal perspective, the only positive I can cling to is that my form – and you could add Jimmy Anderson’s recent performances to this too – has been good. I took 11 wickets in the final two Ashes matches, I have been Test match standard for a long time and, for the last eight years, you would say world class. And so, it makes it even more upsetting that they don’t see me part of their immediate plans, especially with a view to looking at a way of winning away from home, which was briefly explained to me.

Broad explained that he “could take being dropped” if the same was to happen due to lack of delivery or performance, but added that “being overlooked when they haven’t is another thing altogether.

“That’s why I was so outspoken when I was left out against West Indies in Southampton a couple of years ago. It felt unjust. The same again here but with the added factor that I am struggling to put things into context. It’s hard to do so when all you’ve had is a five-minute phone call and nothing else,” he wrote.