Broad and Anderson tick all the boxes to be hailed genuine sporting greats

STUART BROAD took his 500th Test wicket this week, becoming only the seventh bowler in history to reach that landmark.

He is only the second Englishman to do so behind James Anderson’s 589 and his extraordinary achievement sparked the media interest it deserved.

Once again both Broad and Anderson are being heralded as greats of the game, and their fast bowling partnership as one of the finest the world has ever seen. It is hard to argue against that.

We love to debate what constitutes a great sports person, and the word is overused.

But Broad’s achievement and subsequent attention, made me consider what it is to be a true great.

I have been fortunate to have played sport at the highest level and been in three Olympic cycles, so I reckon I have a decent viewpoint on this.

The first attribute of a great is longevity and, of course, at the highest level. To achieve that they need an ironclad mentality for what they are doing because over the years they will face plenty to knock them off their perch.

These can range from injury, rule changes, a slowing body, and competition, to media pressure, changing conditions, different coaches and selectors. The list goes on but throughout it, the great are immovable in what they want to achieve.

This is what separates

Anderson and Broad (above) from other excellent England bowlers such as Darren Gough and Steve Harmison.

The second attribute is they turn up on the big occasion. An Ashes Test match, an Olympic final or a World Cup final, they are there to dominate. The bigger the occasion, the more they will rise up. Looking through the careers of Anderson and Broad, this is hugely evident in both. They stand up in the big moments.

The last attribute I would look for in a great is their ability to keep evolving over the years.

We often believe that the greatest players have an arrogance about their abilities. That is true to an extent but underneath they will also have a humility they need to keep getting better to survive. They will continually challenge themselves to do so and not be fearful of the need to keep improving.

The player they are at the end of their career can seem very different from the one at the start, because throughout that time they have been continuously evolving.

Anderson and Broad (circle, after 500th wicket) will leave a mark on English cricket that will be hard to beat.

Their hunger to keep going and dominate doesn’t look to be waning. I suspect their partnership keeps each other going.

They should be celebrated as they are because we are watching modern greats of cricket and British sport.