ICC World T20, England v India, Group E, Durban September 19, 2007: Over 18, Stuart Broad to Yuvraj Singh. 6-6-6-6-6-6.
England vs Australia, 2015, 4th Test, Nottingham, August 6 – 8, 2015: Australia first innings. Stuart Broad 9.3 overs, 5 maidens, 15 runs, 6 wickets.
He is a tall fast bowler at 6 feet and 5 inches but hardly looks menacing at the top of his run-up. Death doesn’t whisper when he lopes past the umpire in his delivery stride. There is no silence you normally associate with cold, professional assassins. He bowls fast and accurate and is known to use the conditions well if they present themselves.
His baby face which he sometimes tries to rough up with a scraggly portion of face foliage looks purposeful but hardly evokes fear. He looks helpless when batsmen get into him and puts his hands over his face in child-like astonishment when someone pulls off a brilliant catch off his bowling.
At last, the performance
But after almost nine years of international cricket, the son of former England opener and ICC Match Referee Chris Broad, Stuart Broad has finally made a different sort of impression – a sort of coming of age which was in the offing for a long time and finally arrived in his home ground of Trent Bridge at Nottingham last week.
Mind you though, this baby-faced 29-year-old is no spring chicken in the English team. With Jimmy Anderson, he holds the keys to the England bowling outfit as a senior player and has also captained the England T20 outfit during the last T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. But a career which kicked off in 2006 in ODIs and T20s and then got him a Test debut in 2007 has been quite topsy turvy in terms of performances.
In fact, if Jimmy Anderson has been the solid, legendary and dependable backbone of the English attack, Broad has been a sturdy deputy but with some rather dodgy moments as well. Questions have been raised about his temperament and his volatility in the field of play – he appeared more al dente time and again when compared to the stunning gourmet offering of his illustrious partner Anderson – a shadow he might just be coming out of.
There have been moments where he almost came unstuck. Who can forget the 2007 T20 World Cup, when Yuvraj Singh almost reduced him to haplessness as he piled on 6 sixes in one over in what still stands today as a T20 milestone. To give Broad credit, he rolled with the punches and came back to play for England.
Like any other fast bowler, he had his share of lean performances but more often than not, when England needed him he would pick himself up and deliver – be it against the Aussies or against other tough international opposition either home or away. He has a couple of hat tricks and double-digit 5 wicket hauls in tests and today with 308 test wickets and around 169 ODI scalps he is a clear No. 2 choice for England when he is fit.
Unfinished business
But for a guy from Nottingham who started out trying to emulate his opener father in batting, there was always that feeling of unfinished business when people talked about him. Good but not great yet – they cried out. A few crazy moments like when he refused to walk after nicking to Michael Clarke in the 2013 Ashes first test at his home ground which led to him getting roundly booed when he visited Australia later did not help matters. There were times when he looked jaded, average and seemingly non-lethal as an opening bowler. But thankfully England trusted him and his ability – and the performances came back. Time and again.
A fast bowler’s life can get lonely. Stomping up to the stumps day in and day out can take a heavy toll on ankles and legs. And that is just the physical side. The mental battle is a different trip altogether – the comparisons, the criticisms, the self questioning of one’s beliefs and finally the ability to get above it all and deliver where it matters. Stuart Broad, needless to say, has seen all this and more.
But in the last test at Trent Bridge, on a cloudy day when the Aussies saw meatballs instead of the red cricket ball flying at them, Broad crossed a major intersection in his career. His 8 for 15 will not only stand the test of time as an outstanding exhibition of swing and seam, but will also stand him in good stead as a private personal achievement.
The Man of the Match was happy but one could not help notice the mature way he handled all the adulation as the two captains displayed all sorts of mixed emotions around him. In the absence of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad had moved that one step up from being the perennial deputy.
Death might not still whisper when he bowls next. His baby face will break into that happy giggle when he outfoxes the next batsman. But rest assured that that the steel and resolve will be there bubbling away just below the surface – because this is a new Stuart Broad poised to strike once again for England and glory.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
England vs Australia, 2015, 4th Test, Nottingham, August 6 – 8, 2015: Australia first innings. Stuart Broad 9.3 overs, 5 maidens, 15 runs, 6 wickets.
He is a tall fast bowler at 6 feet and 5 inches but hardly looks menacing at the top of his run-up. Death doesn’t whisper when he lopes past the umpire in his delivery stride. There is no silence you normally associate with cold, professional assassins. He bowls fast and accurate and is known to use the conditions well if they present themselves.
His baby face which he sometimes tries to rough up with a scraggly portion of face foliage looks purposeful but hardly evokes fear. He looks helpless when batsmen get into him and puts his hands over his face in child-like astonishment when someone pulls off a brilliant catch off his bowling.
At last, the performance
But after almost nine years of international cricket, the son of former England opener and ICC Match Referee Chris Broad, Stuart Broad has finally made a different sort of impression – a sort of coming of age which was in the offing for a long time and finally arrived in his home ground of Trent Bridge at Nottingham last week.
Mind you though, this baby-faced 29-year-old is no spring chicken in the English team. With Jimmy Anderson, he holds the keys to the England bowling outfit as a senior player and has also captained the England T20 outfit during the last T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. But a career which kicked off in 2006 in ODIs and T20s and then got him a Test debut in 2007 has been quite topsy turvy in terms of performances.
In fact, if Jimmy Anderson has been the solid, legendary and dependable backbone of the English attack, Broad has been a sturdy deputy but with some rather dodgy moments as well. Questions have been raised about his temperament and his volatility in the field of play – he appeared more al dente time and again when compared to the stunning gourmet offering of his illustrious partner Anderson – a shadow he might just be coming out of.
There have been moments where he almost came unstuck. Who can forget the 2007 T20 World Cup, when Yuvraj Singh almost reduced him to haplessness as he piled on 6 sixes in one over in what still stands today as a T20 milestone. To give Broad credit, he rolled with the punches and came back to play for England.
Like any other fast bowler, he had his share of lean performances but more often than not, when England needed him he would pick himself up and deliver – be it against the Aussies or against other tough international opposition either home or away. He has a couple of hat tricks and double-digit 5 wicket hauls in tests and today with 308 test wickets and around 169 ODI scalps he is a clear No. 2 choice for England when he is fit.
Unfinished business
But for a guy from Nottingham who started out trying to emulate his opener father in batting, there was always that feeling of unfinished business when people talked about him. Good but not great yet – they cried out. A few crazy moments like when he refused to walk after nicking to Michael Clarke in the 2013 Ashes first test at his home ground which led to him getting roundly booed when he visited Australia later did not help matters. There were times when he looked jaded, average and seemingly non-lethal as an opening bowler. But thankfully England trusted him and his ability – and the performances came back. Time and again.
A fast bowler’s life can get lonely. Stomping up to the stumps day in and day out can take a heavy toll on ankles and legs. And that is just the physical side. The mental battle is a different trip altogether – the comparisons, the criticisms, the self questioning of one’s beliefs and finally the ability to get above it all and deliver where it matters. Stuart Broad, needless to say, has seen all this and more.
But in the last test at Trent Bridge, on a cloudy day when the Aussies saw meatballs instead of the red cricket ball flying at them, Broad crossed a major intersection in his career. His 8 for 15 will not only stand the test of time as an outstanding exhibition of swing and seam, but will also stand him in good stead as a private personal achievement.
The Man of the Match was happy but one could not help notice the mature way he handled all the adulation as the two captains displayed all sorts of mixed emotions around him. In the absence of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad had moved that one step up from being the perennial deputy.
Death might not still whisper when he bowls next. His baby face will break into that happy giggle when he outfoxes the next batsman. But rest assured that that the steel and resolve will be there bubbling away just below the surface – because this is a new Stuart Broad poised to strike once again for England and glory.
Rathindra Basu lives, breathes, sleeps sports and is forever waiting for the next Indian sporting triumph. Since this usually takes much time and infinite patience he also listens to music, reads voraciously and eats almost anything that moves.
