Selector did not rate me, says Broad

STUART Broad has revealed he felt undervalued by England’s former national selector Ed Smith, concluding “he probably didn’t rate me”.

Broad stands seventh on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers with 517 scalps and is second only to his long-time partner James Anderson among Englishmen, but was left to question his standing under Smith.

Former Kent batsman Smith was ousted last month when his job was dissolved, leaving head coach Chris Silverwood in sole charge of picking players and Broad to reflect on what appears to have been an uneasy working relationship.

Although the make-up of final XI has traditionally fallen to captain and coach, Broad sought talks with Smith after being left out of the first Test of last summer – a decision which left him “frustrated, angry and gutted” – and was similarly aggrieved over his omission on a spicy pitch in Barbados in 2019.

“A lot of people have bosses who don’t rate them as much as other people and I think he was mine,” Broad said at the launch of Lifebuoy’s partnership with the Chance to Shine charity.

“He probably didn’t rate me as much as other players. That’s fine, but I kept finding a way to prove some selection decisions wrong.

“I really disagreed with getting left out in Barbados, where it’s one of the best places to bowl as a tall fast bowler, and there are a few occasions where I have felt a bit disgruntled and didn’t have the clarity of communication that I would like.

“I am very open to being told things: have a discussion face to face and then have a beer and move on, that’s how I like to do things. Maybe Ed and I didn’t have that sort of relationship.

“From my point of view we struggled a bit on the communication side and probably saw the game of cricket slightly differently. He did a lot for bringing through some young cricketers and giving them exposure into the international scene but maybe he didn’t rate me overly highly.”

Silverwood is preparing to announce a squad of 15 to face New Zealand next month, missing the injured Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer as well as the IPL players who have been in quarantine.

Broad and Anderson are set to be joined by fellow seamers Mark Wood, Olly Stone, Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson.