"There was no swing and no seam" - Stuart Broad backs James Anderson's verdict of Edgbaston pitch
Veteran England seamer Stuart Broad has backed up James Anderson's verdict about the Edgbaston pitch for the first Ashes Test. Despite a quiet start to the series, Broad expects his fellow pacer to come to the party in the remaining Tests.
In his latest column for The Telegraph, Anderson, who took only one wicket, hit out at the lifeless pitch at the venue, citing the absence of pace, bounce, swing, and seam. He stated that he will be done with the Ashes if the tracks continue to behave in the same way moving forward.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Stuart Broad voiced a similar opinion and wrote:
"Not to make excuses for him (James Anderson), but there was no swing and no seam, so conditions didn’t suit him in Birmingham and we all know his quality. He is a class act and we know Jimmy will have a big impact in this series."
Broad also admitted that it was a tough ask for Moeen Ali to send in 47 overs in a game having not played red-ball cricket for over two years.
"Time is going to be quite important for Moeen too, because it’s quite a decent gouge on his spinning finger and that’s why Rehan Ahmed has been called up as cover.
"It was always going to be a tough ask for Moeen: playing Twenty20 cricket solidly for a long period, bowling two to three overs at a time and then suddenly banging up 47."
Ali, returning to Test cricket after coming back from retirement, took three wickets in the game. However, the veteran cricketer also suffered a finger injury, making him doubtful for the Lord's Test.
"We came so close to taking a 1-0 Ashes lead in Birmingham" - Stuart Broad
In the aforementioned piece, Stuart Broad also said England regret missing the key moments at Edgbaston. He then went on to praise the crowd for turning up in large numbers.
"We came so close to taking a 1-0 Ashes lead in Birmingham, but head to Lord’s trailing Australia," Broad wrote.
"So what do we need to do differently this week? Attack even more. At the end of that enthralling first Test, the changing room was gutted to start with and that’s quite natural — that’s how it should be when you’ve lost.
"There was quite a lot of emotion because we’d gone from a roaring crowd and all the excitement and adrenaline, to sitting quietly with our own thoughts."
Broad also shed light on how Brendon McCullum appreciated their efforts and that spending over 200 overs on the field was exhausting.
"What broke the silence was Brendon McCullum and all the coaching staff going around every single player congratulating them for their efforts because we were in the field a long time — 116 overs in the first innings, 92 in the second. We were pretty tired, but they were praising us for an incredible effort," Stuart Broad wrote.
The second Ashes Test begins at Lord's on Wednesday, June 28.