Stuart Broad believes long-time bowling partner James Anderson has 'grown as much as anyone' under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and is bowling better at the age of 40 'than he was four years ago'.
Anderson is due to turn 41 midway through the final Test of this summer's Ashes, but seems to be getting better with age having picked up 28 wickets at just 17.21 apiece since celebrating his 40th birthday. And Broad, who has played alongside Anderson in 134 Test matches, does not expect him to slow down any time soon.
"Jimmy's incredibly competitive," Broad said. "That's his number one strength. He's probably the most competitive person I've seen bar Jos Buttler in any sport that he plays. But he's very driven. He's an addict to cricket, to be honest.
"He's an addict to training, an addict to getting better, improving all the time. And I think that's showing now, he's 40 and I think he's probably bowling better now than he was four years ago. So, it's an incredible testament to himself and the game. And he's probably grown as much in the past year as anyone, which Baz and Stokesy taking over."
Broad also opened up about his partnership with Anderson has evolved over the years, with the pair first playing together back in 2008 against New Zealand. "How I view our partnership is our job is to figure out conditions in those first ten overs with the new ball quicker than the opposition batters," he added.
"We need to locate the top of off stump on that pitch quicker than the batter can locate a length to get forward and back to. And I think because that top of off stump is different for Jimmy and I with different heights but we're both really good at locating it. That's when we make breakthroughs and that comes through communication.
"I always leave it four balls before I speak to him, so I'll always go and give him a little, you know, tap almost like a fist pump before he bowls the first ball, I give him four balls to gather his information to make sure he's comfortable. After the fourth ball, I always wander to him and go, 'What you think – swing? seam? what length? Is it a bit fuller, is it a bit shorter? How are you feeling?'
"And then I have a little bit of info for the over that I bowl and then it's just an open communication all the time. Like a big move we made was to field at mid-on and mid off for each other instead of being down at fine leg… we're just always, like if the ball seams I'm five yards away from it, I'll go, 'What was that? How did you bowl that? What did you do there? Did you bowl tighter?' It's just a constant like information stream that comes our way and there's no doubt that that's taken our partnership to the next level."
The 36-year-old also reflected on the new positive environment Stokes and McCullum have created, revealing that he and Anderson sometimes have to "put on a fake smile" as neither the captain nor the coach will "accept any negativity around the group". He continued: "I think communication has been everything to us and we have times, you know, we've got a bit of a joke thing that in the mornings when we have breakfast and we're both tired, you know that feeling of day three or day four and you've been in the field for 120 overs and you're a bit sore, your toes cuts and you know, we have times where we'll just decide…
"We're almost going to be not fake positive, but like super positive about everything. So we'll get in the car and drive to the ground and be like, 'Oh, what a beautiful day. How nice is this city? Wow, look at that. How good's this coffee?' And we just do it about everything.
"And it leads us into the day because it, you know, it's sort of positive talk almost taking the mick, but it just sort of sets us up if we're feeling particularly tired, because there's no doubt that if you walk into a changing room, if you're feeling tired, you walk into a changing room and you go, 'I'm tired', someone else is going to, 'yeah I actually feel quite tired too'.
"But actually if you go in with positive energy, you do lift the group around you. And that's something that Baz and Stokesy are just natural at. They're so naturally positive. Baz can see the positive in anything, any situation, which has been great to be around.
"And he doesn't really accept any negativity around the group. So it's been quite fun when Jimmy and I go into those modes only between each other. But if you've done a lot of bowling, sometimes you just need to put on a fake smile."
Legends of The Ashes is a new ten-part Global Original podcast series launching on Global Player and all major audio platforms from Thursday June 15.
