Broad joins 500 club as England clinch series
CRICKET: PAGE 76
Stuart Broad bowled England to a series win over West Indies and immediately set his sights on emulating his ageless new-ball partner Jimmy anderson.
Broad, who had been dropped for the first test, became only the seventh bowler to take 500 test wickets on the final morning of the decider in Manchester.
He later completed a match haul of ten as England rounded off a crushing 269-run victory and a 2-1 triumph, and admitted: ‘a couple of weeks ago, I was in a bit of a thinking place. I couldn’t leave a cricket ground where I’d been left out. I thought: “Where am I going here?” I’m glad I stayed strong, because I’m very happy now.
‘the way Jimmy runs in and bowls at 38 is incredible. He’s my idol. If you’d asked me four years ago to say whether at 34 I’d still play for another three or four years, I’d have gone: “absolutely not”. But now I am 34, I feel fit and excited. Why not try to follow in Jimmy’s footsteps?
‘If I keep bowling the way I am for the next few years, I wouldn’t rule anything out.’
In one respect, Broad has already mimicked his great friend, who finished the match on 589 wickets.
For both men, their 500th test victim was West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite.
‘Jimmy came to me and said: “You know who it’s going to be? Brathwaite — he was my 500th.” I said: “No way! the stars are going to have to align so much for that to happen”. that is a lovely thing. It will be a great quiz question in a few years, won’t it?’
a grateful Joe root, who becomes the last captain to lift the Wisden trophy before it is replaced, was not in the mood to discourage Broad’s pursuit of anderson’s wicket haul.
‘Hopefully he can keep going, just like Jimmy has,’ said root. ‘as I said about Ben Stokes last week, we’ve got to realise how lucky we are to be in the presence of these guys.’
Broad’s father Chris, match referee here, was too professional to show emotion high up in the old trafford media centre when his son trapped Brathwaite with one of those fuller balls that have earned him so much recent success.
the one silver lining for Broad in the unique, bio-secure conditions that have forced this series behind closed doors is that the ICC had to use English officials — and the one home referee on the elite panel is his dad.
otherwise this arch-competitor, who feeds off the crowds more than most, had to be content with the congratulations of his team-mates, a rare burst of applause from the press box and being serenaded by a lone saxophonist outside the ground. It should not spoil the moment, as Broad has done more than anybody to transform a series that ended yesterday with England regaining the Wisden trophy.
With West Indies finally running out of steam to be bowled out for 129, how emphatically Broad has proved in these last two tests that any suggestion he should be left out of England’s first-choice side remains fanciful.
It was typical of him, too, to have the final word. He came back for a second spell and claimed the last wicket — his tenth of the match — with his first ball as Jermaine Blackwood flicked at a ball down legside.
and how typical that Chris Woakes, so often forced to play second fiddle to England’s big bowling guns, should produce the best performance of the day to take a five-wicket haul of his own, yet still be so spectacularly overshadowed by Broad.
Woakes was perhaps the man who would have been left out here had Stokes been fit to bowl. But he proved yet again that he remains as potent as anyone in English conditions. He ripped the heart out of a weary and self-destructive West Indian batting line-up.
English conditions were, of course, at the heart of England’s dilemma when they had to decide which of their fast bowling riches to employ in this series and that led to the controversial omission of Broad in the first test.
England know they need the X-factor of extreme pace through either Jofra archer or Mark Wood if they are going to win in India this winter and australia next year, if those tours go ahead, and are keen to give them as much experience as possible.
But Broad has made it almost impossible for England to leave him out and has shown in the two years since he was so nearly dropped for England’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2018 that he is still adding tricks to his repertoire at 34.
Why shouldn’t Broad still be a key part of England’s attack in the next ashes? and why shouldn’t he go on towards 600 wickets and perhaps even pass his partner-in-crime anderson?
the Lancashire bowler had a quiet test on his home ground and may even be left out again here against Pakistan when the next series quickly starts next week.
Wood, for one, deserves another chance after missing the last two tests despite finishing so strongly in South africa. Sam Curran is another bowler who has a strong argument for inclusion in what sportspeople always describe as ‘a nice problem to have’.
England do not have to worry about that yet. Instead, they should take satisfaction from their first victory in a three-test series after going one down since New Zealand in 2008. that was when a certain anderson and Broad were introduced as a partnership for the first time.
the rain that had washed out the whole of the fourth day was a bigger problem for England than a West Indies side who contributed to their own demise yesterday with a string of poor shots.
Yet it would be wrong to be too harsh on them and their impressive captain Jason Holder after their huge sacrifice to come here and rescue English cricket.
remember, West Indies have spent the best part of two months consigned to hotels on the Emirates old trafford and ageas Bowl grounds.
Holder has urged England to repay his team’s visit during the coronavirus pandemic with a return trip this winter.
‘If there is an opportunity for England to come to the Caribbean before the end of the year, that would help significantly for Cricket West Indies’ finances,’ said Holder.
‘the players have had to take a pay cut and a tour would really help to keep us afloat as an organisation.’
Holder also admitted that his players had become worn down by life inside the biosecure bubble.
‘It has been really challenging,’ he said. ‘Mentally, some of the guys are worn out.
‘We were in Manchester for four weeks prior to the first test. to come back and see the same people, same place, same rooms — it was a bit difficult.’