Andrew Strauss to sack the England selectors

Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss is set to disband the England selectors in the wake up of the loss to Pakistan. England were beaten by 75 runs in the opening Test against Pakistan.

Strauss is expected to make big changes after the end of the series in September. The controversial omission of fast bowling spearhead James Anderson has provoked this shake up. The selectors opted to rest their best bowler acting on the medical advice. However, coach Trevor Bayliss and Captain Alastair Cook felt that he has properly recovered from the shoulder problem and insisted on playing him in the game.

Both were willing to take the word of England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, who had been adamant he was fit to play after overcoming a shoulder injury. But, the selection panel comprising James Whitaker, Nottinghamshire coach Mick Newell and Middlesex director of cricket Angus Fraser Out voted Bayliss and made the decision to sideline Anderson.

It is suggested that there is discord between Bayliss and the selectors. If things would have gone according to the head  coach’s suggestions, then wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler and not Gary Ballance would have featured in the middle order of the first XI in the Lord’s Test. However, the selectors overruled him and chose Ballance ahead of Butler.

Strauss, who was expected to sack Whitaker as soon as he took the role of the Director of Cricket, is now expected to replace the trio of selectors by himself and be involved with selection process with Bayliss and Alastair Cook.