Former England captain Michael Vaughan had called for the axing of either of the fast bowlers in Stuart Broad and James Anderson from the England team, as they lost the first Test to Pakistan at Lord’s.
Anderson had done well for England against New Zealand and Australia, but Broad fell short of expectations as Joe Root led England lost Ashes 4-0. But Broad bounced back with match figures of 6/66, as England beat Pakistan at Headingley to square the series 1-1.
“I was slightly surprised [at the comments] and I didn’t feel they were massively justified,” Broad, who has 417 Test wickets to his name, told Sky Sports. “But I have spoken to Michael and we are fine now.”
Broad continued, “I like punditry – I understand that when players aren’t performing or are under pressure that you get the full force, while I know everyone has got a job to do in the media. But I felt like I had bowled pretty well at Lord’s and had come off an okay tour personally in New Zealand. I then ended up bowling nicely at Headingley to help us win.”
“I felt in good rhythm and like I was making chances. Since February I have got something like 32 wickets at 16 in Test matches and Division One County Championship cricket, so that is a really good turnaround. I don’t think you can let comments affect you too much as then you are not doing your job properly. Plus, in an England changing room, someone is being talked about positively or negatively at every stage,” Broad further highlighted.
Stuart Broad was part of Sky Sports commentary team for the first ODI between England and Australia.
Broad further added, “Part and parcel of being an international sportsman is dealing with fair or unfair criticism and also when you are on the back pages when you are performing. You tend to go through the same journey as a player – built up before you make your debut, with people analyzing your strengths and best performance, and then, when you have a bad game, which every player goes through, analysis of weaknesses and what’s the matter technically. You have to be able to pull through both of those. You have to deal with your emotions and not spike too much on the graph – not get too elated with the highs or too down with the lows.”
(With inputs from metro.co.uk)
