While the hosts England were struggling on the day 2 morning of the ongoing Manchester Test, Stuart Broad rescued the team with his fearless batting. Talking about that game-changing knock, Broad credited the legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne.
Starting day two on 258/4, England’s first innings were collapsed on 280/8. But then Stuart Broad helped the English team with his fiery batting that led the team to manage 369 runs. The left-handed lower-order batsman recorded England’s joint-third fastest fifty in Test history (33-ball fifty) as he scored 62 runs off 45 balls (9 fours and only six) before losing his wicket. For the crucial ninth-wicket partnership, he added 76 runs with Dom Bess.
Talking about that game-changing counter-attack batting, Broad brought the example of Shane Warne’s useful batting, especially in the Ashes 2005.
Broad said according to cricket.com.au, “Tactically it was the right thing to do and something I’ve worked on with Peter Moores at Nottinghamshire. He brought me the example of Shane Warne who didn’t look particularly pretty at times but hit balls in different areas and was really effective, especially in the 2005 Ashes. Quite unorthodox, opening up different parts of the field; I looked at that, did a bit of research as to how he went about it, and decided it was a good way for me to go – opening up the offside.”
In the Ashes 2005, the right-handed lower-order batsman Shane Warne scored 249 runs in nine innings with an average of 27.66. He also played one fifty-plus score in that series which was 90 runs off 122 balls (11 fours and only six).
I did enjoy myself out there: Stuart Broad
Broad felt comfortable to carry that counter-attack in that morning session. The left-handed batsman enjoyed registering his 14th 50+ score in Test career.
He added, “It felt pretty comfortable, having a clear game plan of what to do. Batting is such a frustrating, weird thing. If you’d have told me this morning I’d get 10, I’d be pretty happy, and then you end up getting 60 and start kicking the ground that you’ve not got 70. There was a little bit of thought process in the madness, but I did enjoy myself out there.”
In reply, the Caribbean team lost their wickets at regular intervals as they scored 137/6 at the stumps of the day. The English pacers dominated with the ball in the last two sessions of the day as James Anderson (2/17) and Stuart Broad (2/17) bagged two wickets each while Jofra Archer (1/55) and Chris Woakes (1/39) also got one wicket each.