Stuart Broad, England's warrior
Stuart Broad became England's highest wicket taker in the fourth innings of a winning Test, and was one of the decisive forces plotting Australia's undoing in Cardiff
12-Jul-2015
In his column for The Telegraph, Jonathan Liew heaps praise on Stuart Broad's strong character and calls him a player who can with The Ashes by himself.
He has been an England player for almost nine years now, and in that time he has been pounded, pilloried and parodied. He has been barracked by an entire nation and bashed in the face, and along the way has bowled more balls in international cricket than anyone apart from James Anderson. And yet he has emerged from it all - not stronger exactly, but still standing, still undeterred. Which would be commendable enough in itself. The thing is, Broad also wins cricket matches. It was easy to overlook amid the surgical genius of Joe Root, and the warm tummy-rubbing glow of England's win yesterday evening, but Broad had another outstanding Ashes Test.
After England's emphatic win over Australia in Cardiff The Guardian's Barney Ronay describes how Broad has found his form and is fast becoming a decisive part of Australia's downfall.
Most compelling of all was Broad's duel with David Warner, a pedigree attacking opener but a man in need not just of a way into this series, but of a start in England, a method of playing in a country where he averages 22 after six Tests, against 46 elsewhere. England won here in part because they batted with new-found brio and aggression. But also because of the same-old same-old, England's most prolific fast-bowling pair performing as required in occasionally helpful conditions. That it was Broad rather than Jimmy Anderson who produced the decisive spell on day four might have come as a surprise to some. On a day of passing cloud and tepid high summer heat, Broad bowled with wonderful urgency and precision, in the process turning this first Test decisively England's way. There is an ease to his approach at his best, this great slender conifer of a man leaning forward at first, ears pinned back, then gradually, almost bashfully unfurling himself to his full height at the point of delivery. Not so much a wrecking ball, he was instead a relentless, suffocating presence running in from the Cathedral Road end.