IT WAS RIGHT CALL TO AXE ME, SAYS BROAD

Stuart Broad has admitted England made the ‘right decision’ by leaving him out of the first two tests in Sri Lanka.

the 32-year- old paceman was in the unfamiliar position of carrying the drinks in Galle and Kandy as England recorded their first away series win since January 2016.

and Broad looks unlikely to play in the final test as well despite Sam Curran being an injury doubt with a side strain.

‘It’s never easy not playing but it is easier when you honestly think it’s probably the right decision and if you were at the top of the tree it’s the decision you’d make,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘We’ve seen in the first two tests the amount of output the seamers have had and the amount of spin the spinners have been getting. I don’t think I’d have made a big difference in these conditions to be honest.

‘Chris Woakes and I were sat mixing the drinks and Jimmy (anderson) was bowling a lovely spell, the bowler who probably moves it most of any bowler in the world and it wasn’t really moving. Woakesy and I just said, ‘‘Well, if he’s not moving it then we’d have been useless on this’’.’

Broad is keen to make the most of his time in Sri Lanka and says he was desperate to be involved in the tour.

‘I don’t think that not playing will affect whether I play against australia next summer,’ he added. ‘You’ve got to get ready to play the next test but also, why not try to improve as a cricketer?

‘I was delighted to be on the tour because it would be easy to say, ‘‘ah, he doesn’t want to come and mix the drinks’’, but I do, I want to be part of this squad.

‘I’ve worked hard on my fitness and I’ve found some technical stuff that’s improving me. So far, so good really.’

England coach trevor Bayliss yesterday hailed Broad — and Jonny Bairstow — for not brooding while watching Sam Curran and Ben Foakes in their places.

‘the way they’ve taken it has been fantastic,’ said the australian. ‘It makes the feeling around the squad so much better.

‘I think that shows the environment there is around this group and it won’t just be about 11 players going forward. It will be about a squad that hopefully gets this team to No 1 in the world.’

the big question now is whether either will play in Friday’s test in Colombo when England will aim to complete their first overseas clean sweep in a series consisting of more than two tests since beating New Zealand in 1962-63.

However, they are unlikely to risk Curran, who ended the last test on the sidelines.

Curran’s side injury means England will need another seamer and it will be intriguing to see whether Broad earns a call-up.

there were significant voices in selection for this tour who felt it best to leave Broad at home, with an eye on next summer’s ashes and his poor record in asia, but he earned a reprieve as an additional seamer.

England also brought olly Stone to see if he could provide extra pace and this would appear to be the perfect time to have a look at him. there is also Chris Woakes, who could provide the depth of batting offered by Curran, who yesterday went for a scan on his side problem.

Bairstow’s case is different as he has watched Foakes claim the batsman-keeper role he has worked so hard to make his own with such aplomb that it is difficult to see the Yorkshireman ever getting the gloves back.

Bayliss conceded Bairstow’s route back can only be as a specialist. ‘He wants to do as well as he possibly can and cement a spot in the team as a batter.’

Bairstow will be a key figure in the ashes but for now his only chance of playing on Friday could be if England leave out third spinner adil rashid.