Broad expecting England to enjoy a new golden era
STUART BROAD believes England’s Test team is close to becoming ‘something pretty special’.
England return to the longer form of the game with Tests against New Zealand at Lord’s and Edgbaston next month before five matches with India starting in August and then a winter Ashes tour to Australia.
And Broad picked out younger talent such as opener Dom Sibley, 25, and 23-year-olds Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, as relatively inexperienced Test players who can help move the team forward.
‘It’s a very exciting year and we are in a really exciting place,’ said Broad, who is his country’s second-highest Test wicket-taker on 517, behind only long-time seam partner James Anderson (614).
‘It feels like a team that is building towards something pretty special. We aren’t the finished article because we don’t have those guys with 50, 60, 70 Tests. What we have is guys who’ve played 100 and guys who’ve played 15.
‘But there are younger players who’ve come in with the backbone and the skill-set this team is looking for. We have said there’s a clear style of looking for big first-innings runs and people like Zak Crawley, Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope can make serious scores at Test level.
‘In another year, 18 months I would expect this team to be at its absolute peak.’
England missed out on the
This feels like a team that is building towards something pretty special
World Test Championship, which takes place at the Ageas Bowl next month, after finishing fourth in the inaugural standings.
Placings were decided on a points percentage after coronavirus hit, with 120 points available per series regardless of the number of matches.
England were comfortably the busiest, playing 21 ranking Tests, and Broad added: ‘(It) is a really good concept, I just don’t think it’s quite right yet.
‘I can’t quite work out how a five-match Ashes series can be worth the same as India playing Bangladesh for two Tests.’