TROY STORY II
Broad hails return of Aussie bowling coach Cooley to England set-up & is eager to gather some valuable inside info ahead of Ashes
BY GIDEON BROOKS
STUART BROAD has hailed the recruitment of bowling guru Troy Cooley as a major coup for England ahead of the Ashes.
The fast bowling coach is set to give the lowdown on all the Aussie players after being ditched by Cricket Australia in August.
And Broad (right) believes tapping into Cooley’s inside knowledge could provide the vital “one percenters” to tip the Ashes England’s way this winter.
“He’s been in their setup for a long period of time, through development and at the top level,” said Broad of the coach who was pace-bowling assistant to Justin Langer in the last Ashes in 2019.
“He can give us great insight into Australian batters’ mentality – what they’re looking to do, where they’re looking to score, where they don’t like the ball and how we should be around them.
“Whether you talk to them, whether you ignore them, whether you sledge them. Can you annoy them enough to make a mistake?
“All this sort of detail, we’ll be picking Troy’s brain, because anything you can get – even a one-percenter on someone – will be really useful for us.
“You need all that sort of stuff to win in Australia. You need to be at the top of your game at all times, and find little chinks in the opposition’s armoury.
“We are really looking forward to picking his brain on Australian conditions, and Australian players.”
Cooley, worked with
England during the
2005
Ashes before embarking on a long stint with Cricket Australia largely as a national team fast bowling coach.
He was caretaker coach of the men’s Test side when Pat Cummins debuted in South Africa in 2011 and renewed his role as a pace bowling assistant to Justin Langer during the 2019 Ashes.
Cooley’s appointment, supporting pace bowling coach John Lewis, sees him hook up with the touring party ahead of the first Test at the Gabba on December 8.
He will work with England’s fast bowling unit Jimmy Anderson, Broad, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes and Craig Overton. Cooley, 55, is expected to provide detailed information on the opposition batsmen and also point out weaknesses in the Australia pace attack.
Yet the Australian is not set to have a dressing-room presence once the Tests get underway. After training England in Brisbane, Cooley will assist the Lions seamers in their four-day match against Australia A starting on December 9. England’s preparations for the Brisbane Test were disrupted by rain when day two of their intrasquad match against the Lions at Redlands CC was washed out.