Twelve months on from being dropped for a tour of the Caribbean – and back in the country where his record-breaking alliance with Jimmy Anderson began – Stuart Broad is almost grateful his England career nearly came to an abrupt end.
Not that he was happy about it at the time. When Andrew Strauss stepped in as temporary team director after the Ashes meltdown in Australia and tried to shore up Joe Root’s listing captaincy by omitting the big two, Broad didn’t hold back. He claimed to be “blindsided” by the call and “waking up more confused and angrier with each passing day”.
