Broad fine to wreak havoc from off frontline

David Leggat

You think Stuart Broad is sore at the prospect of losing his new-ball status at Eden Park tomorrow? Think again.

Anderson and Broad may sound a pair of solicitors but they are among the best fast-bowling combinations in world cricket.

Anderson is England’s highest test wicket taker with 523 at 27.4; Broad is on 399 at 29.33 apiece and No 2 on his country’s all-time test wickettaking list. The numbers roar class.

Broad will surely press on past 400, but it might not be as an opening bowler. The whisper is he might be first change with the impressive Chris Woakes, player of the five-game ODI series, to partner Anderson first up.

There could be a pride issue here, but Broad insists he isn’t fussed about it.

“Not at all. It doesn’t really change what the job is, to hit the top of offstump more often than not,” he said.

There is a certain symmetry to the pair being in New Zealand for Broad’s milestone moment. They made their first visit to New Zealand together in 2008.

England dispensed with veterans Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard after the first test defeat in Hamilton in which they took one wicket apiece, while left-armer Ryan Sidebottom took 10. In came the younger men, Anderson albeit for his 21st test but Broad on debut. Each of them took eight wickets in the next two tests to help England win the series 2-1 and haven’t looked back.

The Ashes earlier in the season provided lean pickings — 11 wickets at 47.7 apiece — but he believes a break back in England, and a chance to rework his action, has helped.

“I’d got to a stage where I was bowling so much round the wicket to left-handers that the front arm and shoulder had got into a position where I was lacking bounce and my fingers weren’t behind the seam,” he said. “It was a really good period to work out my bowling action on my own.”

Now he’s happier, feels his rhythm is back and reckons he bowled well in the two warmup games in Hamilton last week.

“Now it’s in a place where I feel I can do a bit of damage again. I felt I bowled with good pace and bounce and my rhythm to the crease felt fresh. That gives me a lot of excitement for the week.”

Watch out for his clash with senior batsman Ross Taylor, who is expected to be ready for the test after his quad injury during the ODI series. No bowler has dismissed Taylor more times in tests than Broad’s nine in 12 matches, four of them leg before wicket. Food for thought, for both.