Harmison slams “disgusting” England decision to axe Anderson and Broad

James Anderson and Stuart Broad have been axed by England for their three-Test series against the West Indies

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England ‘s decision to drop James Anderson and Stuart Broad for their upcoming tour of the West Indies has been blasted as “disgusting” by Steve Harmison.

The duo are among eight players to have been axed from England’s Ashes squad, along with Jos Buttler, Rory Burns, Dawid Malan, Haseeb Hameed, Dom Bess and Sam Billings.

Four new faces have been added, with Alex Lees, Matt Fisher, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson all looking to make their Test debuts in the Caribbean.

Interim managing director Sir Andrew Strauss said Anderson and Broad had been dropped so England could “look at some exciting new bowling potential and give some added responsibility to other players who have featured previously.”

He also stressed it “does not mean the end” for them and insisting they “will very much be in the mix” for selection this summer.

Harmison, however, feels it is the end for Anderson and Broad as England players, labelling the decision “disgusting”.

Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “For an interim management team to make this call, that’s a big, big call and a big, big gamble.

“I can understand Stuart being annoyed and he will be annoyed. Stuart’s a bowler I would have taken to the Caribbean because of the bouncy surfaces.

“Jimmy can bowl on anything. He’s the best bowler of all time and can bowl on any surface. If there was one tour to give him off this was possibly it, getting him ready for what would be his last hurrah in the summer.

“But to end their careers this way – because I think this is it and I don’t see them coming back – I don’t think that’s right. I think it’s disgusting actually on two all-time greats.”

Harmison was also critical of England’s ‘reset’ message, pointing out that they are likely to select the same bowling attack that lost at the Gabba for the first Test against the West Indies.

“The message that they sent was ‘reset’ and I couldn’t stop laughing at that bit,” Harmison added. “The problem that we’ve had in recent times is that we’ve said that this bowling attack can’t bowl like that.

“We go to the Gabba and we criticise our bowling attack and we go to Antigua with the same bowling attack.

“We’ll have the same bowling attack for the first Test match in Antigua as we had at the Gabba and that is not a reset for me.”