Stuart Broad reveals how England might win Ashes in 2021-22

Stuart Broad reveals how England might win Ashes: The veteran English seamer sounded confident about his team’s fast bowling strength.

Veteran England seamer Stuart Broad is eyeing a place in England’s strongest XI for the first Test against West Indies beginning from July 8. Broad, 34, is part of England’s 30-member squad for the series which will resume international cricket post the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, the presence of 18 fast bowlers in the squad guarantees stiff competition in the department. Currently in a bio-secure bubble at the Ageas Bowl, Broad acknowledged the possibility of him missing his first home Test since 2012 due to a hectic Test schedule which lies ahead for England.

“We’ve been told as a bowling group that the strongest team will be picked for the first Test. The aim is to get into that. The last Test I missed in England was against West Indies in 2012, when I was named in the starting XI [before the toss] but it rained for the first two days and Andy Flower decided that a three-day Test match was one to take a rest from, over which we had an argument at the time,” Broad was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

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Having played all the four Tests during the tour of South Africa earlier this year, Broad laid emphasis on attaining optimum fitness despite not playing competitive cricket for the last few months.

“I don’t like missing cricket. I feel fit at the moment – my fitness tests have been as strong as ever in this come-back-to-cricket period – but we all know how hard fast bowling is. One of my strengths over the years has been to play consistently, so the body has been used to the workload, and it has never had that period of stopping, to then have that shock of coming back,” Broad said.

Stuart Broad reveals how England might win Ashes

Talking about the prevailing competition, Broad disclosed how the English bowlers have been suggested to control their intensity in a bid to prevent any kind of injury in this post-break period.

“You have 30 people trying to get in 11 spots, so training has been nicely intense. The coaches have been telling us to make sure we control our intensity a little, because obviously if we come in and spike our workloads and get up to too high an intensity, we risk injury,” Broad added.

Broad, who has picked 118 wickets in 32 Ashes Tests at an average of 29.35 and a strike rate of 55.1, was part of the English squad which couldn’t regain the urn at home last year. With the next Ashes tour being his fourth to Australia, Broad opened up on the prospect of English fast bowlers possibly dominating the 2021-22 Ashes.

“There is certainly no panic over the strength in depth of English fast bowling. We’ve all come here fit and fresh, which is rare for a fast-bowling group. The dream ticket is to board a flight for Brisbane [ahead of the 2021-22 Ashes] and having this lot of fast bowlers all ready to go.

“Can we have Olly Stone, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, these sort of pace guys, [Chris] Woakes, [Sam] Curran, Broad, Anderson, all fit, fresh and ready to go? If we can, we’ve got a chance of winning there,” Broad concluded.