Stuart Broad might have reacted angrily to being left out of the first Test of the last Ashes series but he has promised to be the model of equanimity if he is forced to relive the experience at Edgbaston next week, saying: “It’s not about me, it’s about the collective.”
Broad is competing with Jimmy Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Matt Potts and Josh Tongue for no more than four places in the team to start the series in Birmingham, but he says none of them will react badly to being omitted.
“I don’t think, whoever misses out at Edgbaston, it’s going to be a ‘dropped’ scenario,” Broad said. “It’s very much that you’re not playing that game but you’re going to be ready for Lord’s, or Headingley, whatever.”
Broad admitted that when he learned he would not be in the team in Brisbane 18 months ago he was “raging”. But as the 36-year-old approaches this year’s series he says he has no worries about being left out: “I love playing against Australia, whether that’s the first Test, the fifth Test, the third, I’m happy to try and strike whenever I get the chance.”
Broad, however, feels that the anticipated rotation of bowlers may not always be necessary. “I’ve got a pretty good record of fronting up and playing back-to-back games and being ready when needed,” he said. “My mindset is I’m fully in for the next six and a half weeks. Whatever’s needed, I’ll try my best to deliver. I fully appreciate that it’s hard and tiring, Test match cricket, but you can’t pre-plan.”
It may be that, with Ben Stokes still working his way back from knee injury, England’s four specialist bowlers will have to bear a particularly heavy workload this year, but this too is not a concern. “It’s harder without a doubt, but as a bowler your job is to bowl and I love bowling – so actually the quicker your next spell comes around, it’s quite enjoyable,” Broad said.
“It gives you a chance to have an impact on the game more. We’re all fit enough to bowl 20 overs in a day, 50 overs in a game, so I think whether Stokesy bowls or not we’ve got him covered … I’m just flowing around at the moment. I feel really happy with how my cricket is, how life is. I feel fit, I feel fresh.”
Broad said he was “devastated” to hear of Jack Leach’s lumbar fracture, but that whoever replaces the spinner would find a welcoming environment. “It is a big compliment to the whole group that players are coming in and performing straight away,” he said. “Josh Tongue, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook – it just shows the environment is very strong.”
The ambition and positivity in England’s dressing room is such that when faced with a run chase of just 11 to win the Test against Ireland last week, “the conversation in those 10 minutes was, ‘Can you do it in two balls?’ And it took four … I’ve loved it. Honestly, I wish I was 23,” said Broad, “and that’s not taking away from what I learned at that age, because I learned the game under Andy Flower, who taught me toughness, competitiveness, grit and steeliness. But to be Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, getting influenced by Brendon McCullum as a coach and learning that failure doesn’t matter as long as you’re playing the game the right way, that’s going to do their careers the world of good.”
Broad was described on Monday by David Warner, whom he has dismissed 14 times in 26 Tests, including seven times when Australia were last in this country in 2019, as “a world-class bowler, a world-class competitor and a good bloke”. With the Australian opener having outlined his plan to retire in January, this will be their last series in opposition. “I’ve loved every bit of our – I don’t know if it’s a rivalry – but it’s been a great battle,” Broad said. “I’ve had to work really hard to expose any kind of chink in his armour because he’s been so dangerous.
“I’ve no doubt he’ll have been thinking about how to counter [what happened in] 2019 this summer. We’ve both played 100 Test matches, so we’ve both got the skills in the locker to adapt to things.”
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has said he has been thinking about who England will select to replace Jack Leach, who pulled out with a back injury on Sunday. Speaking before a trip to the United States, where he will meet Joe Biden and watch a baseball game, he said: “My sport is more cricket than baseball in any case. When it comes to pitching/bowling, I’m more focused on who’s going to replace Jack Leach for the Ashes, which is more the concerning issue on my mind at the moment.”
Asked who should replace Leach, he said: “That’s tough. Either the SOS for Moeen Ali, or indeed that 18-year-old who played that one Test [against Pakistan in December], is it Rehan Ahmed, who had that one unbelievable game.”
But he still gave an upbeat Ashes forecast: “I’m very confident. They [England’s bowlers] managed to get me bowled out in the garden at Downing Street, so they’re in good nick.”
Stuart Broad was speaking at the launch of wine merchant Laithwaites’ partnership with England Cricket.
