Stuart Broad half-century: Twitterati hails English seamer for scoring 13th Test half-century at Old Trafford

Stuart Broad half-century: The veteran English seamer scored a quickfire half-century to upstage proceedings on Day 2.

During the second day of the third Test of the ongoing West Indies’ tour of England in Manchester, veteran England seamer Stuart Broad scored his 13th Test half-century to put his team into a respectable position.

England, who lost four quick wickets including the set batsmen in Ollie Pope (91) and Jos Buttler (67) in the first hour, were in deep trouble before Broad scored a Test half-century at home after three years to stitch a rescue act.

Coming in to bat at No. 10, Broad once again walked the talk in the series justifying his position in the Playing XI. Having got off the mark on the first delivery that he faced, Broad hit West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach for a towering six over deep mid-wicket to make his intentions clear.

Broad, who hit Shannon Gabriel for a boundary in the following over, then attack the opposition captain Jason Holder by hitting seven fours in his four consecutive overs. It was on the penultimate delivery of the 104th over when Broad hit his seventh four off Holder to complete a joint third-fastest (33) Test half-century by an Englishman.

Not wanting to lower the gear, Broad’s continuous effort of attacking the West Indian bowling lineup saw him giving a straight forward catching chance to Jermaine Blackwood at deep mid-wicket off all-rounder Roston Chase. While Broad would have wanted to hit a full-toss to the boundary, minimal timing spoke of the otherwise.

Stuart Broad half-century

Broad, who scored 62 (45) at a strike rate of 137.77 including nine fours and a six, had a batting average of 9.70 in 42 Test innings since the time he scored his last half-century against Australia in Melbourne.

Broad’s 76-run partnership alongside spinner Dom Bess (18*) has powered England to score 369 in 111.5 overs at lunch. The 34-year old player would now be looking forward to make early inroads into the English batting lineup.

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