It’s a Glenn McGrath-like thing you do for a long period of time: Stuart Broad on key to bowling well in Australia
Veteran England seamer Stuart Broad has observed that bowling in Australia is not all about pace while preparing for the Ashes tour. Stuart Broad, heading to his fourth Ashes trip, is likely to share the new ball with James Anderson.
While England have named the strongest squad available, they only have one express paceman available. Jofra Archer's elbow injury means Mark Wood is the only one in the squad who is a tearaway pacer. Their other seamers are Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton and Chris Woakes - all of whom are unlikely to trouble the hosts with their speed.
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In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Stuart Broad remarked that the notion of succeeding in Australia while bowling solely with pace seems a myth. Instead, Broad feels it's more about consistency and maintaining pressure.
"I’ve been doing quite a bit of research and looking at every right-arm over the wicket to right-handers and every right-arm round wicket to lefthanders that’s fallen in Australia in the last six years. We often, in England, talk about express pace, but that’s not what I’m seeing. It’s relentlessness with the ball. It’s [Glenn] McGrath-like that you do for a long period of time. It’s not bowling bad balls and releasing the pressure."
Broad, who played all five Tests on the 2017-18 tour, was part of a bowling attack that proved toothless on the tour. England hardly had any pure fast bowlers back then and were unable to unsettle the Australian batters.
"Realistically we only have Mark Wood who bowls over 90mph" - Stuart Broad
Broad said they will miss Archer; however, he admitted that the visitors have to use the available resources to regain the urn. The 35-year-old thinks the other bowlers need to operate well around the paceys Wood.
"Obviously it would be great to have Jofra Archer there and have that express pace, but you need to move the ball and need to be relentless. That’s what we’ve got to aim to do. It’s no good us saying we’re going to blast everyone out, because realistically we only have Mark Wood who bowls over 90mph, so we have to use what’s in our armoury."
England haven't held the urn since the 2015 series when they beat Australia to regain it. The Three Lions have to play out of their skins this tour to win it for the first time since 2010-11.