Fired-up Broad bites back at Vaughan with timely return to form
STUART Broad has hit back at Michael Vaughan after the former England captain said he should be dropped from the side for the second Test.
Broad returned to form with 3-38 as Pakistan were bowled out for 174, and afterwards admitted that he had called Vaughan to express his anger at views expressed in his Daily Telegraph newspaper column and BBC radio show this week.
Vaughan wrote that Broad should be dropped to “ruffle” the England dressing room, which he feels has become too cosy in recent months. But Broad firmly defended his own recent form, retorted that Vaughan had “little insight” into what happens in the dressing room, and suggested that he was being deliberately controversial in an attempt to stir attention.
“It’s a complete shot in the dark, because he doesn’t know what the changing room’s like,” Broad said.
“I don’t think he’s got much insight into the changing room at all. The players don’t talk to him about cricket, or what’s going on in the changing room. But it’s personal columns, it’s radio shows that need likes and airtime.
“I like punditry. I like hearing different people’s opinions, I respect people’s opinions when it’s fair. I didn’t feel last week, it was particularly fair. Only two Tests ago, I got eight wickets in Christchurch. I’ve been beating the bat, I’ve been getting wickets for Nottinghamshire. But this time it did anger me a little bit, because I thought it was a bit unfair and a bit targeted.
“I called him. I’m friends with Vaughany, he was a fantastic captain to me, I like sharing a glass of wine with him. I called him and expressed my disappointment.
“He had his opinions on the headlines, et cetera. I’m very open to criticism. I’m not going to hold
Total (48.1 overs)
Bowling:
ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS CLOSE
Total 2 wkts (37 overs)
Bowling:
England trail by 68 runs
a grudge, but I don’t really feel like I deserved that.
“I thought I’d express that opinion to him, because there’s no point in it spinning around my mind and annoying me.”
After Sarfraz Ahmed chose to bat under initially sunny skies at Headingley, England’s three senior seamers shared nine wickets in humid conditions and Pakistan struggled to 174 all out against the swinging ball.
By stumps, despite the late departure of Alastair Cook, the hosts were 106 for two on a good batting surface as they seek to square this series at 1-1 and avoid a seventh defeat in their last nine Tests.
It was no less than captain Joe Root demanded, on the eve of this match, when he spelled out that England have been under-performing for far too long.
FIRST staged in 1907, the unique Isle of Man TT is unquestionably the ultimate test of man and machine in what is effectively a time trial over 37-and-three-quarter miles of rolling Manx countryside on closed roads, through towns, up one side of Snaefell Mountain and down the other.
The start/finish line is in Douglas and a full circuit takes around 17 and a half minutes at an average speed of over 130mph. The lap record — currently held by Michael Dunlop — is 16mins 53.929seconds, a speed of 133.932mph.
At the TT — named after the original Tourist Trophy awarded to the first winners — competitors travelling from Ulster to that small island in the middle of the Irish Sea have a terrific record against the best road racers in the world .
Donaghadee-domiciled Stanley Woods was a 10-time TT winner between 1923 and 1939, riding a variety of machines — Cotton, Norton, Moto Guzzi and Velocette all took him to victory.
His 1935 seven-lap Senior win on the Guzzi, when he surprised rivals by not taking a final fuel stop, turned a 26-second deficit into a four-second victory over Norton-mounted Jimmy Guthrie and set a then new lap record of 85.53mph after over three hours of racing.
Joey Dunlop’s feats on the island are legendary; a record 26 wins between 1977 and 2000 — seven TT F1, six Lightweight, five Ultra Lightweight, four Senior, two Junior, one Classic in 1980 and one Jubilee, his first victory in 1977.
Who will ever forget 1985 when Joey, brother Robert and other riders, race bikes and equipment were lucky to escape when the ex-fishing boat Tornamona, transporting them to the Isle of Man, sank after getting into difficulties?
All 13 passengers and crew were rescued by the RNLI Portaferry lifeboat. The bikes were later recovered by divers as Joey, being interviewed back on dry land, produced a classic line when asked had he been frightened at any stage.
“Frightened? I was near myself,” he replied in pure Ballymoney tones.
The near-miss didn’t hinder Joey’s racing as he sped to a treble — only the second rider to achieve this feat after Mike Hailwood.
Formula racing (F1, F2 and F3) was introduced to the TT programme by the FIM/ACU governing bodies in order to placate the organisers after the event lost its World Championship status in 1976.
Joey made the F1 class his own, winning six in a row between 1983 and 1988 — all on Hondas. In fact, 24 of his wins came on the Japanese machines.
Will his record of 26 triumphs ever be beaten? Many die-hard supporters think it won’t be or downright don’t want it to be, but Morecambe’s John McGuinness is only three behind and threatening the tally despite being a non-starter through injury for the last two years.
Joey, of course, had his injury woes in 1989. He had been written off by many as not being capable of winning on a big bike again, that it was beyond him, but he certainly rammed that opinion down the throats of doubters by taking a sensational 2000 F1 race victory on the SP2 Honda, beating the V&M Yamaha of the late David Jefferies, who retired a lap from the end after an epic struggle.