The spearhead of England’s bowling attack, Stuart Broad claims that plan for the forthcoming Magellan Ashes series won’t begin till they reach Brisbane for the first Test match.
However, he offers a solution to one of the sought after questions in international cricket currently. He recently suggested how the English bowlers will plan to dismiss the Australian captain Steven Smith.
Over the past one year, Smith has been the second highest run-scorer with 1237 runs behind Pujara’s 1252 runs across matches in Australia, India, and Bangladesh, and Broad admits that most of the planning will be done against Steven Smith.
“Obviously we had plans for him in England (during the 2015 Ashes in the UK), but it was quite clear in England that if you don’t get him out early he seems to get big scores, and probably even more so in Australia because the pitches stay flat for a bit longer,” Stuart Broad said while having a word with the reporters in Adelaide.
He further mentioned that people suggested him bowl straight at him, try to hit the leg stump, come around the wicket to him, and bowl yorkers before the last Ashes. But according to the statistics of Smith, he doesn’t get bowled or leg before very often unless there is an uneven bounce in the pitch.
“He’s got huge scoring areas from straight, so I think we have to look for his outside edge up until about day three and then if the pitches start going slightly up and down or crack like the Gabba can do that can bring the lbw in. But if the bounce is true, I don’t think Smith is an lbw or bowled candidate, so we have to look for his outside edge,” Broad further added.
Broad had an outstanding 2015 Ashes series, as he presented a brilliant exhibition of seam and swing bowling. Broad admitted he has been watching footages of his childhood hero Glenn McGrath as a part of his preparation for this campaign.
“I’m not going to swing it here. I look through all my heroes like Glenn McGrath, and he’s not a swing bowler, you’ve got to hit the pitch hard, like a Josh Hazlewood,” a confident Broad stated.
While further admitting his plans on how he will bowl, the 31-year-old broad said,
“If you’re six-foot-six (inches), you hit the pitch hard, you get the length, and if you get a nibble, either way, you’re bringing the stumps and the (bat) edge in. I like bowling in Australia because it encourages you to hit the pitch hard, I tried to bowl a bit too full at the WACA (in last weekend’s opening tour game), so I’ve learned that lesson. I then bowled that heavy length that gets wickets in Australia.”
While talking about Warner, Broad revealed,
“I think Warner, you have to try and bowl a lot of balls at him with the new ball because it’s your best chance of getting him out, but if he gets in, you can’t do what Pakistan did in Sydney last year (when Warner scored a century before lunch on day one).”
To sign off, Broad said that you need to have a plan B while bowling to players like so that you change your tactics if plan A doesn’t work.
“These are the sort of guys that you want to play against, who spur you on. You know that if you get it wrong against him, he can hurt you, but it’s also extremely exciting if you get him out,” Broad concluded.
Also Read: (Ashes 2017/18: Mitchell Starc Should Bowl Smarter on a Lively Gabba Deck- Stuart Clark)
(Ashes 2017/18: I’m Building Myself Up for the Jeering – Stuart Broad)