If anybody could be forgiven for hating Twenty20 cricket that man is Stuart Broad. Two years ago in South Africa he became only the fourth bowler in history to concede six sixes in an over, and his experience in the fateful game against Netherlands last Friday was arguably even worse given that his last-ball misjudgement completed the most embarrassing one-day loss ever suffered by England.
“I don’t think I could have pinned a tail on the donkey with my eyes open,” Broad said yesterday as he reflected on a final over in which three run out opportunities came and went, and a sharp return catch was put down. Just as his career went from strength to strength after the fireworks of Yuvraj Singh in Durban, so Broad bounced back again in helping England to win the crucial game against Pakistan on Monday.
Tenacity of character has made him a strong candidate to become the first bowler to captain England on a permanent basis since Bob Willis in the eighties. In the aftermath of the Pakistan game, Paul Collingwood, the one-day captain, described Broad as “a proper cricketer”, a very northern compliment, and said that he now counts the 22-year-old among the experienced players in his side rather than a youngster.
Broad celebrates his 23rd birthday some three days after the final and England will relaunch the bid to make it all that way in their first Super Eights game against South Africa on Thursday. “We have had such a great start to the summer and the Netherlands defeat was so tight that it didn’t disrupt us,” Broad said. “If we had been hammered it would have hurt more, but after beating Pakistan it is quite easy to move on.”
Had Broad restricted Netherlands to a single from the last ball then the game would have gone to a super over, cricket’s answer to the penalty shootout. But he gambled on hitting the stumps to complete a run out, knowing that without back-up the batsmen would be able to complete an overthrow to win the game.
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“I have heard that I should have held it and taken it to a super over, but that’s not the way people want to see the game played,” Broad said, no doubt underestimating the drama of such a contest. “It is not in my blood to play in a safety-first way. If I have got a run out chance to win the game I want to take it and in the same situation I will certainly have another shy at the stumps. When you play cricket like that, more often it works for you.”
He is not blowing his own trumpet in suggesting that he could not have delivered a much better over. A series of yorkers denied batsmen more than singles. “We bowled pretty well at the back end of the innings, but by then the damage was done,” he said. “It was a substandard first half to the innings. We had no buzz in the field and they took the momentum. You have to be honest and say they got what they deserved.”
Broad received collective backing at a team meeting the following day with agreement that England were right to have gone for the win. He thought it fortunate that the Pakistan game followed so soon afterwards. “Netherlands was a game of four quarters,” he said. “We were delighted with our first ten overs with the bat and almost pulled it back in the last ten with the ball, but were disappointed with the two tens in between.”
He praised Luke Wright, another of the England team with boy-band looks, for having the courage to continue playing shots against Pakistan after the early loss of Ravi Bopara, the form batsman. “Luke’s fearless attitude spoke volumes for where we are as a side,” he said. “We have all played in games where an early wicket bogs you down and you waste your powerplay, but we hit boundaries all through the innings.”
The players regrouped at Loughborough on Tuesday night having enjoyed a short breaks at their homes, one of the luxuries of being tournament hosts. They will practice at the National Cricket Centre on Wednesday morning, but Broad knows that potential for trouble is there against South Africa and beyond. He said: “The responsibility of bowling the fourth and sixth overs can be quite tricky because batsmen are looking to target you with the field in.
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“But I think it gives you a decent opportunity to take wickets and that is what I’ve found in fifty over cricket too. Even though your economy rate is going to be higher in powerplays your wicket tally should go up as well. You have to accept that you might go for more boundaries.”