England have left bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of their squad to tour the West Indies In March.

The 35-year-old Broad is second on that list, having taken 537 wickets in 152 matches.

“I want to emphasise this does not mean the end for them as England players,” said Andrew Strauss, the team’s interim managing director.

Anderson and Broad both played in the recent Ashes series in Australia which England, who are captained by Joe Root, lost 4-0.

In the aftermath of that thrashing, England head coach Chris Silverwood, director of cricket Ashley Giles and assistant coach Graham Thorpe all left their roles.

Strauss has temporarily taken over from Giles and he has appointed Paul Collingwood as England’s interim head coach for the West Indies tour.

“We feel that it is important to look at some exciting new bowling potential and give some added responsibility to other players who have featured previously,” added Strauss.

“No-one doubts the quality and experience that James and Stuart bring to the England set-up. It will be up to the new managing director and permanent head coach to decide on whether they will be involved this summer and beyond.

“This selection of this squad is the start of a process and a journey to get England Test cricket back to where it needs to be – and the hard work starts now.”

‘The start of a new cycle’

Strauss, Collingwood and head scout James Taylor picked the 16-man squad for the Windies tour.

They have also dropped Dom Bess, Sam Billings, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan, who were also part of the Ashes squad.

Lancashire bowler Saqib Mahmood and spinner Matthew Parkinson have been included and will be aiming to make their Test debuts, while wicketkeeper Ben Foakes returns to the England set-up.

Durham opener Alex Lees and Yorkshire seamer Matthew Fisher have been called up for the first time.

“With the start of a new cycle, it has allowed the selection panel to refresh the Test squad with a particular focus on competing away from home,” said Strauss.

“We felt that it was time to draw a line after the Ashes defeat, look forward and give some impetus with an influx of new players.”

England will arrive in Antigua on 25 February and play a four-day warm-up match starting on 1 March followed by three Tests.

The first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua starts on 8 March.

England squad: Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain, Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)

‘Temporary feel about this tour’ – analysis

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew

England have dropped both Broad and Anderson for this tour which is quite dramatic stuff. They are ageing, but I don’t think they are very happy about it. They certainly don’t think this is the end of their careers.

It has to come to an end sometime and I think there is the view that this tour is a bit of a holding pattern – there is a very temporary feel about it. There is a new coach and director of cricket to be appointed.

There is a huge amount of flux around English cricket at the moment. It may turn out this trip will turn into a hiding to nothing – they lost last time they went, so it’s an opportunity to look at what there is out there.

What is there to learn from taking Broad and Anderson on this trip? We know exactly what they can do – they’ve been doing it for years.

It is not the end for those two for sure, but it may be a bit of a breath being taken after all the sackings and cullings over the past couple of weeks.

Fixtures

1-4 Tour match (opponents TBC)

8-12 1st Test, Antigua (14:00 GMT)

16-20 2nd Test, Barbados (14:00 GMT)

24-28 3rd Test, Grenada (14:00 GMT/15:00 BST)