Beneath the blond hair and boyish good looks lay a fierce competitiveness and an almost unquenchable thirst for improvement in Stuart Broad, who has announced his international retirement.
Those knees-pumping hot streaks that took batting sides apart in a spell or two peppered his career – with eight for 15 against Australia on his Trent Bridge home ground in 2015 inarguably the highlight.
His place may have come under more regular scrutiny than James Anderson but only his long-time opening bowler and Australia great Glenn McGrath have taken more Test wickets among seamers than Broad.
Broad, 37, claimed his 600th victim in England’s drawn fourth Ashes Test against Australia – his 166th Test appearance – and he was the bete-noire of some of the finest batters of his era.
Broad has terrorised David Warner throughout his career and removed the Australian opener 17 times to move level with West Indies greats Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, who both dismissed former England opener Michael Atherton 17 times during their Test careers.
Only former England seamer Alec Bedser, who had Arthur Morris out 18 times, and McGrath, who dismissed Atherton on 19 occasions, have removed a batsman more times than Broad has Warner.
While he lacked outright pace, Broad was a shrewd thinker, spirited and adaptable, extracting bounce from a 6ft 6in frame at home and overseas – even if he was ill-suited to an enforcer role.
A key component in England’s 2010 World Twenty20 win, he captained the T20 side 27 times between 2011-14 before being unceremoniously shuffled out of the white-ball set-up as part of Eoin Morgan’s reset.
As with Anderson, the decision prolonged the Test career of Broad, who nevertheless sits third in England’s all-time list of wicket-takers for both one-day internationals (178) and T20s (65), with the memory of being carted for six sixes in an over by India’s Yuvraj Singh in 2007 a distant one.
Broad, son of ex-England opening batter Chris, made a Test ton against Pakistan in 2010 but a badly broken nose four years later after being clattered by a Varun Aaron bumper curtailed any all-rounder ambitions. Before that incident he averaged 23.95 with the bat, which nosedived to 18.00 after it.
His interventions with ball in hand arguably swung three home Ashes series England’s way. He had his breakout moment with five for 37 in the 2009 Oval decider, including four wickets in 21 balls, while career-best match figures of 11 for 121 at Chester-le-Street sealed England’s 3-0 success in 2013.
Two years later, given a rare chance to shine in the injured Anderson’s absence, he had his finest hour as Australia’s batters edged everything and imploded to 60 all out in 18.3 overs. The image of Broad, hands cupped to his mouth in disbelief at a Ben Stokes grab, was the defining image in a 3-2 win.
“It was just one of those days you dream of,” Broad later reflected, with his haul taking him beyond 300 Test wickets.
“I never dreamt I’d be able to get eight wickets in a spell. My previous best-ever bowling was seven for 12 against Kimbolton School Under-15s. It’s great to have a personal best against Australia, one of the best teams in the world.”
Eight of Broad’s 20 five-wicket hauls came against England’s biggest rivals.
He also clearly got under their skin as he memorably refused to walk in the 2013 series opener after clearly edging to slip and was branded a “blatant cheat” by then Australia coach Darren Lehmann.
Ahead of the immediate return series later in the year, he was baited by an Australian paper but responded with six for 81 on the opening day, and entered the press conference clutching a copy of the day’s edition.
“Our psychologist did tests to see what kind of personalities we all are,” he said. “There are three guys in this side who thrive properly on getting abuse: Kevin Pietersen, myself and Matt Prior.
“They picked the good men to go at. There’s a little bit more niggle playing against the Aussies. It means so much that I feel it does bring the best out of me.”
Having been a peripheral part of the 2010-11 series win because of injury, he could do little to prevent a 5-0 whitewash in 2013-14 and a 4-0 drubbing in 2017-18.
His place seemed in jeopardy from that point onwards although his work ethic was outstanding, while he became a menace to left-handers bowling from round the wicket – as Warner found out in the 2019 and 2023 Ashes.
His spiky side emerged after being dropped for the first Test of the 2020 summer, with Broad describing himself as “frustrated, angry and gutted”.
He vindicated his return with 29 wickets in five matches at 13.41 against the West Indies, becoming just the sixth bowler to 500 Test dismissals, and went on to pass 600 during the fourth Test of the 2023 Ashes.
Inglis hails 'hard to stop' Stoinis after ruthless knock
Josh Inglis lauded "hard to stop" Marcus Stoinis as Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan in style, claiming a whitewash.
The hosts raced to a seven-wicket victory with almost nine overs remaining in Monday's third match.
After Australia's bowlers had limited Pakistan to just 117 runs, Stoinis ensured they signed off their final white-ball assignment in style, with his unbeaten 61 doing the damage.
Only twice has he bettered that knock in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*).
"It's been a great week. We've had a lot of fun as a group," Inglis said. "It's been really nice.
"When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've ever seen!"
Stoinis, who was named player of the match, added: "Nice to score some runs on a beautiful wicket but credit to the bowlers who kept the total down.
"Yeah, I actually told [Haris] Rauf that this is the first time any of us got the better of him! No, he's a brilliant bowler, bowled well this series."
During their white-ball tour, Pakistan won the ODI series, their first time doing so in Australia in 22 years, but got whitewashed in the T20Is.
Despite the heavy loss, captain Agha Salman chose to focus on the positive effect the experience will have on their young players.
"I think in the middle overs, we didn't capitalise on the start," he said. "But lots of positives.
"The way Usman [Khan] batted, the way Jahandad [Khan] bowled. These youngsters will come good.
"It's obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series, but we could have done much better in the T20Is."
Salt century gives England winning start to West Indies T20 series
Phil Salt hit a superb century as England drew first blood in their T20 series against West Indies, with a commanding eight-wicket victory at the Kensington Oval.
Salt's unbeaten 103 off 54 balls was the highlight for the tourists, who successfully chased down their target of 183 with 19 balls to spare.
The West Indies endured a difficult start and were reduced to 18-3 and later 117-8, with Saqib Mahmood (4-34) and Adil Rashid (3-32) doing the damage.
However, the hosts managed 65 runs in the last 5.2 overs to finish at 182-8, with Gukadesh Motie knocking 33 off 14 balls along the way.
Salt kick-started England's chase with 50 off just 25 deliveries taking them to 73-1 after six overs, with Will Jacks (17) dismissed with the final ball of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler's first match after four months out lasted just three minutes, as the skipper was caught by Motie for a golden duck.
However, it proved a false dawn for West Indies, with Salt and Jacob Bethall (58 from 36 balls) safely steering England to victory.
Data Debrief: Salt completes hat-trick of hundreds as Bethell makes historic half-century
England put their disappointing ODI series behind them, making history with the highest T20 chase at the Kensington Oval.
Salt was the hero with his third T20I century, all of which have come against West Indies in the past 12 months.
Bethell also made history on Saturday. Aged 21 years and 17 days, he become the youngest England player to score a 50 in a T20I.
Asalanka leads Sri Lanka to ODI series win over West Indies
Sri Lanka wrapped up the ODI series against the West Indies with a five-wicket victory in Pallekele.
The hosts successfully chased down their opponents' total of 189, giving them an unassailable 2-0 in the three-match series.
Sri Lanka controlled the early powerplay - Asitha Fernando (3-35) and Maheesh Theekshana (3-25) took two wickets apiece to leave the tourists at 31-4 in the ninth over.
Wanindu Hasaranga (4-40) then claimed three of his four wickets as Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh and Alzarri Joseph were all dismissed in the space of 14 balls.
However, Sherfane Rutherford (80 off 82 balls) and Gudakesh Motie (50 not out) steadied the ship to take the Windies from 58-8 to 189.
Although Joseph claimed Avishka Fernando (9) in the fourth over, Nishan Madushka and Sadeera Samarawickrama both chipped in with contributions of 38 to get the hosts to 112-4.
Skipper Charith Asalanka (62 not out) led the charge thereon, while Kamindu Mendis (11) comfortably got them over the line with 34 balls remaining.
Data Debrief: Rutherford-Motie historic stand proves academic for tourists
West Indies were looking to level the series, but their hopes were not aided by Sri Lanka's impressive bowling.
Rutherford and Motie did their best. Their partnership brought 119 runs, which is their nation's highest ninth-wicket stand in ODI history, breaking the previous record of 85 between Yannic Cariah and Alzarri Joseph.
However, it ultimately proved in vain as the hosts secured the series with a game to spare.
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