Rejuvenated Broad finds a new edge
STUART BROAD is eyeing up a return Down Under after thriving in his most successful Ashes series with the ball.
Broad took 23 wickets at an average of just over 26, including the scalp of Australian danger man David Warner seven times.
And the 33- year- old paceman has revealed that it was the planning and preparation for facing Warner that paid off in spades and helped push retirement thoughts to the back burner.
Broad might have taken 467 Test wickets, but he admitted that before the series began he noticed how he was being viewed as a man closing out his career. Not any longer.
“I’ve been very pleased with how it has gone this summer,” said Broad. “I’ve gone from being talked about as a diminishing cricketer being eased out to a reinvented cricketer with more to offer. All the hard work has been worth it and at 33 years old that is a good place to be.
“I had an added responsibility to try and get their big players out and that’s why I did a lot of planning on David Warner and how
I might get him out before the series started.
“I had to go fuller at him, I had to try and hit his stumps and I had to try and forget about his outside edge.
“The edges would come but only if I bowled in the right areas consistently rather than searching for the edge of his bat.
“I never dreamt that I would have the success against him that I’ve had. And after the win at the Oval it is a much better feeling as an England player and a fan having not let Australia leave with a winning series.”
Ben Stokes has already tipped Jofra Archer to be a star in Australia during the next series in 2021/ 22 and Broad will have a role to play in helping him through the early stages of his Test career.
Archer has set the game alight with his pace and skill, and with both Broad and James Anderson knowing the feeling of bursting onto the scene with success, they can help him cope when things are not quite as straight orward.
“Jof has got great control and great natural pace,” added Broad. “His next challenge is that it won’t always be as easy as this. He won’t always take wickets as regularly.
“It is important that we don’t expect him to be 10 out of 10 every day because that is physically impossible as a fast bowler.
“I don’t think we can expect him to be as good as he has been this series every time he plays and bowl as much as he has done every time he plays. But he’s a real asset for English cricket.”
❑ THE BBC is relishing the return of live cricket to free- toair television.
Director of sport Barbara Slater said: “What’s exciting is the mix of rights – we’ll take the highlights as well as the live cricket and that package gives us a fantastic opportunity to get behind the sport.
“We want to work with the ECB to increase participation, and we’re really excited about The Hundred.”
I’ve been reinvented with more to come