Had you been asked at the start of this series which of England's two veteran, all-time great seamers would go into the Fourth Ashes Test still on course to play all five, the only sensible answer would have been to say neither.
Certainly, though, Stuart Broad did not think it would be him. During the Ireland Test at the start of last month, having been picked to lead what looked a second-string attack while James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood primed themselves for Australia's arrival, Broad gave a very un-Broadian press conference in which he — genuine shock — took no issue with the idea that he might not make the XI for the Ashes opener.
"Whether I play at Edgbaston, whether I play at Lord's, Headingley, I don't mind," he said. "I'm very comfortable whether I play the first, second, third, four or fifth, so long as I strike at some stage. I think it's unrealistic to think that any bowler is going to play six Tests [with the Ireland game] in a row."
And yet, here we are, with Broad about to start the fifth match of that run and, such has been his impact on the series, only injury looking likely to deny him an ever-present summer. As an act of physical endurance, that would be quite the feat for a player who turned 37 last month, but beyond being simply available (which helps), Broad's greater accomplishment has been in persistently demanding selection, in a manner less literal but more persuasive than in the past.
England's leadership, to their credit, have stood up the promise made at the start of the new regime to shift focus away from the infamous 'rest and rotation' policy that produced countless cart-before-horse selections under Chris Silverwood and Joe Root, and towards the novel idea of actually picking the best XI for each match. Broad took five-for against Ireland and so kept his place at Edgbaston. He was outstanding there, too, so played again at Lord's and so on to Leeds and now Manchester as well.
With 16 wickets in three matches (a tally that now has him just two shy of becoming only the fifth man past 600 in his Test career) Broad has been the series' most productive bowler so far. Their neat dispersal — six in the First Test, then five in each of the next two — tells of a consistent impact on all three games rivalled only by Ben Stokes and Pat Cummins, who have the advantage of influencing games through captaincy, as well as with bat or ball.
It is a byproduct of Broad's character that so much of the analysis of his success tends to hone in on aura or spirit before skill, typified by the narrative around his hold over David Warner, which is spoken of less as a consistent dismantling of one of Test cricket's most dangerous openers and more as the inevitable weekly enactment of some unshakeable spell.
That vital passages in matches of this importance tend, by some invisible attraction, to gravitate towards Broad is nothing new, but beyond the bravado and showmanship it should not be lost quite how beautifully he has bowled this summer.
Appreciation of such artistry has tended to fall more frequently on Anderson across the course of their long, dovetailing partnership, to be reunited this week in the hope that the latter has been refreshed and galvanised by a couple of weeks off since the second of two indifferent displays in the series, at Lord's.
Anderson's Test output on the ground where he has his own end has, unsurprisingly, been excellent (37 wickets at an average of 22) and bodes well for a return to form, if, as he insists, his lack of it so far this series has nothing to do with the fact he turns 41 next week. Even so, the home man's Old Trafford record is not quite as good as Broad's, whose Test average of 19 here is his best at any English venue save Durham, where he has played only three times.
The pair's inclusion alongside Chris Woakes, Wood and spinner Moeen Ali makes this attack the oldest England have fielded in a Test match since 1928. Throw in the career wickets of Stokes, Root and Harry Brook ('wicket', singular, in his case), though, and it is also the most prolific line-up assembled in Test history, with 1,974 scalps between them.
"I was always told that old was gold," Moeen said yesterday. For England to keep the Ashes alive, the theory must win out.
