Broad aims to do some damage as he targets milestone
STUART Broad has yet to be told whether he will keep the new ball as he bids for his 400th wicket but, either way, he is convinced he is ready to “do some damage” again in Test cricket.
Broad insists his fast bowler’s ego is intact after Joe Root gave the new ball first to Mark Wood and then Chris Woakes in England’s two warm-up matches in Hamilton.
After the short trip north to Auckland for this week’s day-night series opener against New Zealand, Broad reports that he has gone “back to basics” to bring back the game-changing hot streak spells for which he has been renowned throughout his career.
They have been thin on the ground over the past two years, including in this winter’s 4-0 Ashes defeat, but, at 31, Broad responded by re-grooving his action in the Trent Bridge nets while England were still away playing whiteball cricket.
Asked if it was a jolt to his confidence when Root preferred others as James Anderson’s new-ball partners against a New Zealand XI, Broad said: “Not at all, no. I’m really not sure which way we’ll go (in the first Test)... We’re going to be slightly less rigid in the way we go about things, just to try to create pressure for longer periods of time.
“There has been no decision made on it. There’s still a chance I could take the new ball.”
Irrespective of that, Broad admits his self-tutorial in Nottingham was overdue.
“I think my action had fallen into a place where it needed repairing, after bowling so much to left-handers around the wicket – in training and in matches,’’ he said.
“I’m in a place now where I feel like I can do quite a bit of damage as a bowler again.”