Filed under: Cricket, England Cricket, Tests
Andy Flower is a hard taskmaster and when he speaks people would do well to sit up and take notice.That particularly applies to Stuart Broad as the countdown to the third Test at the Rose Bowl begins.
Just one glance at Flower and you do not need long to formulate the opinion that the England team director does not bother with mind games. There are no hidden agendas and no psychological tricks when he offers an opinion.
His take on Broad's contribution to the Sri Lanka series so far mixed diplomacy with a clear message and it is one Broad would do well to heed and act upon.
"I don't think Stuart would say he has bowled at his peak so far, but we all know he is a very fine performer. I expect him to play a serious role at the Rose Bowl," said Flower.
There has been much debate of late as to whether having three different captains for Test matches, ODIs and Twenty20 places the individual form of Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Broad under more intense focus.
Does this England set-up leave them with three players whom they would be reluctant to drop, rather than just one, if form were to go missing for any length of time?
Strauss' little blip with the bat will have to be curtailed swiftly if he is not called to account for his lack of runs, especially while his opening partner Cook is gorging himself at the other end.
The same can be said of Broad with the ball, which is presumably why Flower has offered the verbal dig in the ribs to the Nottinghamshire seamer, to make it clear England expects.
Broad can point to the fact he suffered two injuries over the winter and has been easing himself back into the game with very little match action for his county and Flower agrees.
"I think Stuart's injuries have upset his progress, but he has looked very strong in the two Tests so far and I can only see him getting better," said Flower.
So far Broad has taken six wickets for 288 runs in the two games against Sri Lanka, which would hardly classify as prolific.
In the absence of James Anderson in the Lord's Test, he was the senior bowler, but failed to step up and lead by example.
Since his 5-37 against Australia and the defining spell of the Oval Test in 2009, Broad has gone 14 Tests without another five-wicket haul, which is a poor return for a bowler who will be 25 in June and can no longer be considered a newcomer in the Test arena.
Broad has played 36 Tests and picked up 105 wickets. In comparison Steven Finn has 50 wickets in just 12 Tests and it is not hard to see why there is a clamour to leave Broad out in favour of the Middlesex man.
If Broad does not heed the words of Flower and deliver what is expected of him we will soon discover whether being Twenty20 captain makes him immune from losing his Test place.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Owen Hargreaves Paolo Maldini Patrick Vieira Paul Casey Paul Scholes
No comments:
Post a Comment