Marnus Labuschagne: ‘England can cope without James Anderson and Stuart Broad’

Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne believes England can cope without the experience of seamers James Anderson and Stuart Board in the build-up to next year’s Ashes series.

Anderson, 41, has confirmed the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s on 10 July will be his last, while Broad, 37, stood down from England duty against Australia at the Oval last summer.

It means captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum will have lost more than 1,300 wickets and 354 matches of experience.

“I think one thing for English cricket is you’ve got some really quality young bowlers coming through and that’s really exciting,” said Labuschagne.

“I mean the likes of [Matthew] Potts, [Josh] Tongue, Cookie [Sam Cook] from Essex, Ollie [Robinson], there’s some good talent and it will be nice to see English bowlers develop over the next few years.

“I think the question that’s always on people’s mind is durability and to have the likes of Anderson and Broad just be there, year in year out, bodies always good, getting through Test matches, that’s always the next step.

“I think the skills and ability are there, but it’s a different thing. Jimmy’s almost played 200 Test matches, so to have that is very special.”