Latest Cricket News: 'I have stopped trying to make sense of it': James Anderson after his omission from the Caribbean tour

England ace pacer James Anderson says he has "stopped trying to make sense" of his omission from England's Test squad for their series defeat against West Indies. It remains unclear "what the reset thing actually means" after minimal contact from the ECB. Anderson, along with his long-term team-mate and close friend Stuart Broad, was left out of the squad that traveled to the Caribbean last month.

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Discussing his England future in-depth for the first time since being left out, Anderson said that he had not heard anything from Joe Root, Paul Collingwood, or Andrew Strauss since the squad left the UK in February. However, he said that he still failed to understand the decision.

"For the last few years, I have been thinking about that anyway; it is just natural to think about that when you get to a certain age. People keep asking you the question of how long you are going to go on. I don't think that has changed much really," Anderson added.

"It feels a bit strange at the minute. I'm still centrally contracted but I've not had too much feedback from them because a lot is up in the air in terms of the director of cricket and head coach. I have just been working with Glenn and Sam here, just trying to figure out what the best way forward is."

James Anderson said on Lancashire's pre-season press day

"My focus has always been, if I can still perform and my body is up to the challenge then I will keep doing that. I'll have to take it season-by-season. If the England call doesn't come, I will still play here this season. I have never looked too far ahead in my career. It's always game-by-game and series-by-series and season-by-season.": James Anderson.

"It has been a tough few years for us as a Test team": James Anderson

"It has been a tough few years for us as a Test team, it is natural that everything comes under scrutiny. I'm not too sure what the reset thing actually means."

Anderson on press day

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Anderson's situation is complicated by the fact he is employed by the ECB as a centrally-contracted player, rather than by Lancashire. However, he said that there had been no meaningful contact with any decision-makers since his omission. "I've spoken to the head physio," he said. "There's nobody in those positions permanently so I'm presuming that is why I've not heard anything. As I said, when those positions are filled, we'll see."

Asked if he hoped the new managing director would speak to him once in post, he replied: "That would be nice.

"It's been a difficult time for everyone. After an Ashes defeat, everything comes under scrutiny. There are lots going on - people losing their jobs and stuff. I would have loved a sit-down, face-to-face, but obviously, that's not always possible in these situations. I would have loved more than a five-minute phone call, but again, that's not always possible in these situations. It is what it is."

"I don't know. I didn't hear that": Anderson on Root's comments

Anderson had asked about Root's Comments on his exclusion he said, "I don't know. I didn't hear that." "I'm not sure. If that's the case then… I dunno. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the summer."

"Not really," he added when asked if he thought he was difficult to captain. "It depends… in terms of what? I've done what I did for quite a long period of time, I feel like I know what I'm doing. I don't think I'm extremely stubborn. I will take advice and feedback from people. You'd have to ask Joe what he means by that."

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"I feel good. I had a bit of time off and then got back into training. I've been in the gym quite a lot. My bowling has been limited outside so I am just trying to build that up as much as I can ahead of the start of the season."

"That first Test is in our minds. Being centrally contracted is how we should be thinking. It is trying to find a balance of playing enough but not being overworked before that first Test. If I think of how I build up to a Test series, I want to be in as good form as possible going into that series."

"The best way of doing that is performing for Lancashire, trying to win games of cricket. That's been my mindset forever really: performing as well as I possibly can here and hopefully those performances will lead to a call-up and if not then at least we will get off to a good start to the season," Anderson expressed.