Omission inspires veteran to new high

WITh every passing over, the decision to drop Stuart Broad for the first Test at the Ageas Bowl looks like the kind of aberration which might normally trigger an inquest and a resignation.

It was Broad who, in his comeback game, turned an apparently certain draw into a situation from which England could think about victory. It was Broad who then knocked the top off the West Indies order in the second innings.

And it was Broad who yesterday morning polished off their tail with four wickets in four overs in the third Test, then returned in the evening to collect two more.

Since removing Shamarh Brooks on the fourth afternoon of the first of Manchester’s two Tests, he has taken 14 wickets at an average of six — figures more in keeping with uncovered pitches and dodgy batting techniques in the Victorian era.

That haul is not merely the response of a player who knows his omission at Southampton was a selectorial brainfade. It is the work of a bowler who believes, even at the age of 34, that there are plenty of Test wickets left in him.

After leaving the tourists on 10 for two overnight in their second innings, he took his tally to 499, seventh on the all-time list.

Sixth, on 519, is the great West Indian Courtney Walsh. But with Broad in this mood, you wouldn’t back against him passing Walsh during the forthcoming threematch series against Pakistan — assuming, of course, the selectors don’t leave him out once more.

With all that in mind, it wasn’t hindsight that told you Broad should have opened the bowling on the third morning of the third Test, with the Wisden Trophy on the line. At one end, Jofra Archer was a fair choice. The evening before he had made Shane

Dowrich jerk around like a marionette. But Broad, with overnight figures of 10-3-17-2, surely demanded precedence over Chris Woakes, who had 13-1-39-1.

Not until West Indies had avoided the follow-on did Broad get a go — with predictable consequences. his third ball nipped back to trap Jason holder for 46, ending a troublesome stand with Dowrich of 68. Then, in the same over, Broad pinned Rahkeem Cornwall in front and had Kemar Roach caught low down at slip by Root.

When Dowrich spooned a dolly to Woakes, Broad had figures of six for 31 — his best since six for 17 against South Africa at Johannesburg in January 2016.

It was hardly the performance of a bowler on the decline. It was also a reminder of how adept Broad is at the bowler’s equivalent of the daddy hundred — while any selfrespecting batsman prefers 150 to 110, Broad likes six-fors more than five-fors. This was his 12th bag of six or more in Tests, equalling SF Barnes’s England record, set before the First World War.

Eight of his 14 wickets in this series have been bowled or lbw — a reflection of his greater willingness to pitch the ball up under the captaincy of Root and his reading of the surfaces at Old Trafford.

Team-mate Rory Burns said it would be a ‘ridiculous achievement’ if Broad becomes only the fourth seam bowler to take 500 Test wickets, adding: ‘Dom Sibley nudged me before Broad bowled a ball, and said: “he’s on 497”. I thought: “We’d better catch it”.

‘It would be a pretty ridiculous achievement to get to 500 — and he’s chipped in with some handy runs. he’s bowling really well at the minute.’