Stuart Broad - England Career

England Career

Broad played for the England Under-19 squad in 2005, facing the Sri Lankan U-19 squad, and took five for seventeen in the first "test" at Shenley. He was named in the ECB National Academy squad for the winter of 2005–06 and was then called up to the England "A" squad touring the West Indies, as a replacement for James Anderson, who had been drafted into the Test side touring India. In April 2006, Broad was again called up to the England A squad, facing the touring Sri Lankan team.

Broad was also included in the ECB's 25-man development squad for the 2006 season. David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said, "The squad essentially enables the England Head Coach (Duncan Fletcher), working with his support staff and the National Academy staff, to monitor more closely the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game."

On 23 August 2006, Broad was included in the England one-day squad for the one-day internationals against Pakistan, and a couple of days later was named Young Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers' Club. On 28 August, Broad made his first England appearance, in the Twenty20 International against Pakistan. Broad bowled four overs for 35 runs, and took two wickets in two balls, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick, after a lofted shot from Shahid Afridi fell just short of Kevin Pietersen. On 30 August, he made his ODI debut, taking a wicket in his first over, as well as being involved in a last-wicket partnership of 29 with Darren Gough. In the third ODI on 5 September 2006, Broad once again found himself on a hat-trick with the wickets of Abdul Razzaq and Kamran Akmal, but again missed out on the third. He bowled ten overs and ended with figures of three for 57 with one maiden.

Broad was left out of the squad for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2006-07 Commonwealth Bank Series. However, he was called up for the finals in the latter following injuries to Jon Lewis and Chris Tremlett. He was also called into England's squad as a replacement partway through the 2007 World Cup. He finished the tournament by scoring the winning runs in England's final match against the West Indies. Broad also featured in the ODI squad at the end of the West Indies tour of England in summer 2007, taking three for twenty in the first match to take England to a 1–0 lead in the ODI series. On 30 August, he took career-best bowling figures of four for 51 as England bowled out India for 212 in the fourth match of the summer's ODI series. Broad also hit an unbeaten 45 to take his first ODI Man of the Match award. The definitive unbeaten partnership of 99 runs he shared with Ravi Bopara is a record eighth-wicket stand for England in ODIs.

On 19 September, Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes from one Broad over in a Twenty20 International match in Durban, South Africa, during 2007's ICC World Twenty20. This was the fourth time the feat had been performed in senior cricket, the first in Twenty20 cricket, and the first time in any form of international cricket against a bowler from a major cricket country.)

Broad enjoyed a hugely successful ODI series in Sri Lanka in October 2007, taking eleven wickets in the series at an average of 19.27, as England won the series three-two to record its first ever ODI series win in Sri Lanka. Ryan Sidebottom, with twelve, was the only England bowler to take more wickets than Broad, who went on to have an equally successful ODI series against New Zealand. Although England fell to a three-one defeat, Broad was the leading wicket taker and held the highest batting average, 52, in the England team. During the tour of New Zealand in 2008, Broad, along with Alastair Cook and James Anderson, posed naked for the Cosmopolitan paper with just a cricket bat for coverup.

On 6 June 2008, Broad scored his maiden Test fifty against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, making 64 before being bowled by Chris Martin. He quickly followed this with his second, in July 2008, in the Test series against South Africa, scoring a new best of 76. In the Second Test at Headingley, Broad contributed seventeen runs in the first innings, as England was bowled out on the first day for 203. In the second innings, with the match already lost, Broad top-scored with 67 in an innings that included some impressive drives through midwicket and cover, giving further evidence of his batsmanship. After this, his Test batting average rose above forty. His performances with the bat have led pundits to suggest that he may become a genuine all rounder, with Geoffrey Boycott comparing him to Garfield Sobers: "He's a wonderful player. There's a little bit of Sobers in him".

Broad was surprisingly dropped for the following Test at Edgbaston, making way for the returning Paul Collingwood. England captain Michael Vaughan said he was left out because of his bowling, but the decision has been criticised: Collingwood was no better a bowler than Broad, and Broad's batsmanship quite encouraging. Broad duly took seven wickets for Nottinghamshire against Durham while the Test was being played. On 26 August 2008, he recorded the first five-wicket haul in his international career with best figures of five for 23 against South Africa at his home ground in the second ODI of the series, with England winning the series 4–0 with Broad taking 8 wickets within the series at an average of 18.4 and shooting up to 4th in the ICC ODI world rankings, the highest by far in his career and by any English bowler since Andrew Flintoff in 2003.

On 26 May 2009, Broad was named Man of the Series (one-day) against the West Indies in England. He took a total of six wickets, and England won the series two-nil after the first ODI was rained out. In the adjacent Test series, in which the home side fairly routed its opponents, Broad's wickets came at an average of just eighteen – "further evidence," reckoned journalist Nick Hoult, "of the top class international cricketer that lurks within. His bowling, particularly the variety he has added to his game, makes him a potential Ashes star ."

On 5 June 2009, Netherlands defeated England by four wickets in the first match of the ICC World Twenty20. Netherlands needed seven to win from the final over with Broad bowling. He spurned two run-out opportunities from the first two balls, and dropped a catch off the third. The Dutch needed two runs from the final ball to win, and got them after Broad picked up the ball in his follow through and, attempting to win the match, overthrew, missing his third run-out opportunity of the over and allowing the batsmen to come back for the match-clinching second run.