England cricketer, Stuart Broad is now considered to be an all-rounder of genuine international class following his world record breaking summer and we caught up with him ahead of the upcoming Ashes tour to find out his thoughts on England's chances.
It's been almost a quarter of a century since England beat Australia in Australia in an Ashes series and famously Stuart's father Chris Broad was one of the heroes of that 1986/87 tour. In the first of a two-part interview, we ask Stuart if he can help England to a long overdue victory...
So, Stuart what really happened on that England training camp in Germany?
It was a tough camp. We’ve been told we’re not allowed to give too many details away, but we did a lot of fitness work – we must have done 1,500 press-ups in four days, which was quite excessive. We slept in tents every night, had a bit of sleep deprivation, that sort of thing.
That doesn't sound altogether healthy!?
Well, I think it will bring us closer together as a group and then we did some stuff outside of our comfort zone, like abseiling and walking off a 50 metre cliff forwards. It was different, but it was something that was a good experience to do.
A bit of boxing as well by all accounts [England bowler James Anderson suffered a broken rib]?
A little bit, yes. I don’t think I’ll be giving David Haye a run for his money any time soon, but it was certainly interesting.
'I don't think I'll be giving David Haye a run for his money any time soon'
So, how excited are you to be going on your first Ashes tour?
It’s a dream come true really. It’s one of those signature tours that when you play certain grounds like the SCG and MCG on Boxing Day it will be with you for the rest of your life. I think the exciting thing about this tour is that we’ve got a really good opportunity. We’ve played some really great cricket over the last six months, won every series in England, we’ve had different players performing at different times and we just need to go there, relax, and play our cricket.
'It's a dream come true really'
What are you expecting from the Australian wickets, having not played there before?
I think that getting the ball to reverse-swing will be key. I think the wickets will offer a bit more bounce than England potentially and I’m looking forward to it. I look at the seamers over there and they’ve had a lot of success. The likes of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Glenn McGrath, [Michael] Kasprowicz, [Jason] Gillespie all get wickets over there, so it’s an opportunity.
And are you concerned about using the Kookaburra ball as opposed to the Duke ball?
Not really to be honest, no. I’ve been to the West Indies and South Africa, where they use the Kookaburra ball. It doesn’t affect where you bowl it, you still have to pick the right sort of area. It probably doesn’t swing as conventionally as the Duke ball does in England, but it can reverse quicker and I look forward to the challenge.
You’re yet to taste defeat in an Ashes series in your career. How confident are you that that will continue this winter?
I think the key is to start well in the first hour in Brisbane and throw the first punch so to speak. We have to be really focused on that and we’re fortunate that we have three warm-up games first, so there will be no excuses not to hit the ground running and we’ll be ready.
'I think the key is to start well in Brisbane'
Who do you see as the key players for both teams this winter?
I think for the Aussies you would have to say Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson in their batting line-up. They’re two players that have had a lot of success recently and two players that we’ll need to get early. I think that Straussy [Andrew Strauss] will be a key man for us at the top of the order. We need solid starts and to not lose early wickets and Straussy’s a key man in that. I think that with the balance that we’ve got – three seamers and a spinner – Swanny [Graeme Swann] will have to bowl quite a lot of overs and I think they'll target him and try and hit him out of the attack, but that could play into our hands.
'I think Straussy is a key man for us'
There's been a lot of talk about Kevin Pietersen's lack of form in recent months, but many people, including Andrew Flintoff are backing him to star this winter. How do you see the situation?
As an England team, I think what we've done well over the past 18 months is that we've had different players contributing at different times. It's not necessarily one person who's dominated a series, it's been different people at key moments stepping up and winning games for England, so I think KP's an important player for us but over the last 18 months we've proved that we can win games without him scoring runs so when he does score runs it's going to be a major factor for us and only improve a very strong team. I think he will hit form in Australia, I don't think batting in England this summer was particularly easy for anybody. He's obviously low on confidence but I'm sure in the warm-up games he'll be getting his head down and trying to score some runs.
Check back in to Red Bull for part two of our Stuart Broad interview soon
Keep up to date with England's Ashes tour at our dedicated event page
rutgerpauw.com
Comments
Add a comment