After winning the home Test series against West Indies, England Test captain Joe Root highly praised the two senior English pacers – James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
In this three-match Test series, both the right-arm pacers – the 37-year-old England’s most wicket-taker James Anderson and the 34-year-old England’s second-most wicket-taker Stuart Broad – played two matches each. While Ben Stokes-led English side dropped Broad in the opening game of this Test series at Southampton that England lost by four wickets, Joe Root-led English team dropped Anderson in the second game of this series at Manchester, which England won by 113 runs.
While they played the third or final Test again at Manchester, both Anderson and Broad appeared in this Test match and England won by 269 runs to secure this series.
Despite missing out the opening game of this Test series, Broad finished as the leading wicket-taker in this series as he picked up 16 wickets. At the end of this series, he and Caribbean all-rounder Roston Chase jointly won the Player of the Series award. On the other hand, the senior English pacer Anderson managed to take five wickets in this Test series.
It’s a real privilege to play alongside both James Anderson and Stuart Broad: Joe Root
Joe Root called both these senior English pacers as two of England’s best bowlers of all time. The English Test captain hopes to see this pair for more seasons.
According to Sky Sports, Root said after that Test series victory, “We’re looking at two of England’s best bowlers of all time. To be playing in the same team as both of them – we’ve got to understand how lucky we are to be watching them go about their business. Playing alongside them, seeing them operate day in, day out – it couldn’t be a better place for a young fast bowler to come in and learn their trade. It’s a real privilege to play alongside both Jimmy and Stuart and hopefully that’s going to happen for a lot longer as well.”
Though Broad was the most successful English Test bowler in the last year, he missed out the opening game of this series and he was frustrated for that. However, he showed his great pace bowling skills in the next two Tests and guided the national team to win the home series.
While Anderson has already picked up 589 Test wickets, Broad (501 Test wickets) just completed his 500 Test wickets during the series-decider Test.
Joe Root said about Broad, “For him to come back into the team and have such an impact is testament to how good a player he’s been for England over such a long period of time. It sums Stuart up, he seems to get on those hot streaks and have a real impact in games and I’m really pleased for him to get to that milestone – 500 Test wickets is a phenomenal achievement. He’s the sort of guy that really grabs a game and wrestles it in your favour. He wants to be part of those big occasions and he wants to take the ball when you’re up against it. There are so many different occasions he’s done that.”