Old pals’ act clicks into gear as England assume control
STUART BROAD has predicted that his bowling partnership with Jimmy Anderson could continue for another four years after England’s two leading all-time wicket-takers turned this final Test decisively in their side’s favour on the second day in Manchester.
Broad followed up an innings of 62, his highest in Tests for seven years, with another star turn with the ball, taking 2-17 from 11 overs as he removed opener Kraigg Brathwaite and Roston Chase.
Anderson applied pressure from the other end, returning the same figures as Broad as he removed Shai Hope and Shamarh Brooks.
This was only the third time in 15 Tests that the pair, who have more than 1,000 Test wickets between them, have played together.
Despite talk that their opportunities to do so again in the future may be limited, Broad, 34, is not expecting his double act with Anderson, who turns 38 at the end of this month, to finish anytime soon.
‘He wants to go on until
Darren Stevens’ age by the sounds of it,’ said Broad. ‘He can still see himself trundling in at 42. I don’t ever walk on the field feeling ‘Is this the last time we will play together?’ because both of us have a burning desire to keep going and keep winning Test matches for England, which is a great feeling.
‘I certainly get the feeling when one of us goes, the other will be one of the first to know and there’s certainly been no talk of that. Jimmy’s record has arguably been getting better, as has mine. So let’s keep striking while the iron’s hot.
‘I loved it. We pride ourselves on building pressure and adapting to conditions quicker than the opening batsmen do. We did exactly that today.
‘It didn’t really feel like we hadn’t played together for so long. We slotted back into what we do and worked together to take wickets and, hopefully, we can carry that on.’