£1M DEAL FOR PACE ACE JOFRA
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 edge of his bat.
“I never dreamt I would have the success against him that I’ve had.
“And after the win at the Broad in Ashes Tests 2009 (In England) Overs Wickets
Runs conceded Best
Average
.................... 154.1 ..................... 18 ..... 544 ....................... 6/91 .............. 30.22
2010/11 (In Australia) Overs
Wickets
Runs conceded Best
Average
.................... 69.5 ...................... 2 ....... 161 ........................ 1/18 ............. 80.50
2013 (In England) Overs
................... 185.5
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 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
Wickets Runs conceded Best Average
.................... 22 ..... 604 ...................... 6/50 .............. 27.45
(In Australia) Overs Wickets Runs conceded Best Average
.................... 161.5 ..................... 21 ..... 578 ........................ 6/81 .............. 27.52
2015 (In England) Overs
................... 143.3 Wickets ...................... 21 ..... 439
Runs conceded Best Average Overs Wickets Runs conceded Best 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.”
....................... 8/15 .............. 20.90
2017/18 (In Australia) Overs Wickets Runs conceded Best Average
...................... 195 ...................... 11 ..... 525 ....................... 4/51 ............... 47.73
(In England)
.................... 175.1 .................... 23 ...... 613 ....................... 5/86 .............. 26.65
JOFRA ARCHER will be given a bumper England deal – worth more than £1million – across all formats after his sensational summer.
But Archer, 24, won’t be playing any more white-ball cricket this year as he and other World Cup and Ashes players are rested for the T20 series in New Zealand.
Archer (right) will join Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow as recipients of new deals on Friday.
Archer said: “I need a few weeks to sit back and reflect on what’s happened. But it’s been amazing, from the first game to Sunday.”