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”.
But at the start of his 17th year as an England player, back after the paternity leave that meant he missed December’s triumph in Pakistan and set for an instant return in Thursday’s first Test against New Zealand, Broad is happy to bury the hatchet he felt Strauss wielded unnecessarily.
“Arguably that decision saved my career,” says Broad, who looked on from home as England’s seam attack laboured en route to a 1-0 defeat by West Indies that proved the catalyst for regime change. “If I had gone there, on those pitches, I’m not sure I’d be here now. I don’t think it was designed like that by the selectors, but I count myself as pretty lucky.”
Broad being Broad, there was an amusing contradiction: had he been on that tour, and in Pakistan before Christmas, he fancies he would have finished the leading Test wicket-taker in the world in 2022. Instead, after his summer recall, he finished with 40 victims at 25 runs apiece, fourth behind Nathan Lyon, Kagiso Rabada (both 47) and Jack Leach (46).
Either way, the 36-year-old is certainly enjoying the captaincy of Ben Stokes and England’s magnetic head coach, Brendon McCullum. “It has been the most enjoyable 10 days I have had pre-series my whole career,” he says. Outside the intense training sessions there has been a heavy diet of golf and sightseeing, with his laptop and copy of Football Manager – a tour staple previously – left at home.
It makes sense that the pair’s live-in-the-moment philosophy should align with his own. During that miserable Ashes he was on the wrong side of a selection policy that flickered between either looking one Test ahead or aping the Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch by giving answers to the previous questions posed. When he then missed the Caribbean, he made a pledge to be where his feet are.
“I changed my mindset to just attacking a week at a time because it can be quite tiring looking too far ahead and we got in a habit of doing that,” he says. “It is so refreshing just to have a crack at the week in front of you. With me going down that [route] and Baz and Stokes taking over, it has been incredible for my enjoyment levels.”
Time marches on but when asked if this two-Test series in New Zealand may be his last overseas, perhaps poetically so given it was here in 2008 where Peter Moores united him with Anderson for the first time – a firm “no” came back in response. Whenever that day comes, Broad will walk off the stage fulfilled, however. The landscape is changing, domestic Twenty20 making players richer than ever before, but he would not change a thing.
“I have played in the best era,” he says. “There is no doubt that my job satisfaction has been 10 out of 10 for experiences. There is no way you can replicate walking off after five days winning a Test match after the effort you have put in. It tests character, fitness and skill. It tests everything about you over a whole day, five days and then a series. The memories you build are exceptional.
“[McCullum] has jumped down the back of that and said: ‘If we can create experiences around those five days of cricket that are 10 out 10, then why would you be anywhere else?’ Yes, you can earn a lot more money playing T20 stuff and if that is your main goal then you are always going to go down that route. But the satisfaction of this environment is 10 out of 10.”
England are monitoring forecasts around Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle, which is expected to cause a widespread and extreme weather event ahead of the first Test against New Zealand.
The cyclone, which has been upgraded to a category three, is heading towards the North Island and is expected to bring gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and unsafe sea conditions between Sunday and Tuesday.
England are due to make the 90-minute journey from Hamilton to the coastal city of Mount Maunganui, which hosts Thursday’s series opener, on Sunday afternoon and are keeping abreast of developments. No changes have been made to their travel plans so far but updates are being followed closely and further checks will go ahead before departure.
New Zealand’s national weather agency, MetService, said in an alert: “This is expected to be a widespread and extreme weather event. Very heavy rain, damaging winds and large waves are forecast for many parts of northern and central New Zealand.
“Warnings have been issued, including MetService red warnings, our highest alert saved for the most intense weather events.”
Citizens have been advised to prepare a grab bag of essentials and stock up on three days of food and bottled water as a precaution, with the prospect of flooding and power outages in some areas.
The England team’s planned training sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are already in doubt. When the squad visited the ground last week they made use of an indoor marquee which shielded them from the elements but that may not be available to use in high winds. PA Media
Will he have a late crack at reviving his short-format career when the end of the Ashes brings a six-month break for England’s Test team? “Not for me,” comes the reply. “I got asked to play in the Hundred last year or the year before. [But] no. The idea of bowling 15 balls and getting slogged at my age, it doesn’t fill me with any excitement. I’ve seen some very entertaining games and close finishes, but some cricket is better enjoyed from the stands.”
A Londoner these days, Broad’s return comes after the bleary-eyed first few weeks of parenthood and using the facilities at Wimbledon Cricket Club to get up to speed for the day job. He has also been working on a new delivery to right-handers with a greater cock of the wrist to make his right shoulder flow more and – in theory – produce more bounce away.
If, as expected, Broad gets the nod ahead of Olly Stone and Matthew Potts on Thursday, it will come with the pink Kookaburra ball in hand. After England’s one-off warm-up, he believes it may require cross-seamers and bouncers in the day, before attacking more conventionally at night. These are examples of the crackling synapses that have sustained a cricketer who is heading for his 160th cap and no longer one of the irates of the Caribbean. Broad is still going.
