Veteran England pacer James Anderson hopes his illustrious career has not been ended following his exclusion from the upcoming tour of the West Indies.

Anderson and Stuart Broad, England’s two all-time leading Test wicket-takers, have been dropped from the next month’s three-Test series in the Caribbean as the visitors underwent a major overhaul after their humiliating 4-0 Ashes loss in Australia.

While Anderson will turn 40 in July this year, he still has no plans to retire from international cricket.

“It’s been a weird couple of weeks,” Anderson told the BBC Tailenders podcast. “I’ve just been trying to process what’s gone on. Obviously it was a bit of a shock and a disappointment to get that call to say I am not going.

“I’m praying this isn’t the end.”

James Anderson, who has 640 Test scalps to his name, did an impressive job in the Ashes 2021-22 even though England were outplayed Down Under. The seasoned fast bowler returned with eight wickets from three Tests at an average of 23.37.

“I do still feel like I’ve got a lot to offer,” he said. “Since I’ve turned 35 my record’s got even better so I know that I’m not slowing down, I’m not losing anything. I’ve got one more go at digging deep, I’ve dug deep quite a lot over the last 20 years but I still love playing the game, I still loved bowling out in Australia even though the results didn’t go our way.”

Following the squad selection for the West Indies series, Andrew Strauss, the ECB's interim director of cricket, had said that the omission of Anderson and Broad doesn't mean “the end for them."

England skipper Joe Root on Thursday (February 24) echoed Strauss in saying that he too had told Anderson and Broad their Test careers were not finished.

“At no point - it’s been made very clear - no one is saying this is the end for them,” said Root while speaking ahead of the squad’s departure to West Indies.

(With AFP inputs)