Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE REINVENTION OF STUART BROAD
Pace man feared he was nearing the end... now he’s set his sights on a tilt at the Aussies in 2021 after his 2019 heroics
STUART BROAD is eyeing a return Down Under after thriving in his most successful Ashes series.
Broad took 23 wickets at an average of just over 26, including the scalp of Australian opener David Warner seven times.
And the pace man says his plans for Warner paid off handsomely and pushed retirement thoughts on to the back burner.
Broad may have taken 467 Test wickets, but admitted that before the series he was being viewed as a man closing out his career. Not any longer.
“I’ve been very pleased with how it’s gone this summer,” he said. “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’s a good place to be.
“I had an added responsibility to try to 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 I would have the success against him that I’ve had.
“And after the win at Broad in Ashes Tests (In England)
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Ben Stokes has already tipped Jofra Archer to be a star in the next Ashes series and Broad can help him through the early stages of his Test career.
Archer has set the game alight with his pace and with Broad knowing the feeling of bursting on to
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Average the scene, he can help the new boy cope when things are not so straightforward.
“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.
“He had one average day at Old Trafford and then all of a sudden he started getting criticism, so it is important we don’t expect him to be 10 out of 10 every day because that is physically impossible as a fast bowler.
“Ten years ago I’d have said he would take 400 Test wickets. Now I’m not sure if he’s going to play enough Test cricket to reach those numbers because he will be playing all formats.”
(In England)