After missing out on the first Test at Southampton, England fast bowler Stuart Broad was left frustrated and vented out his anguish over his axe.
However, Broad came back in the second Test match and ended up with six vital wickets in the game, helping England draw level in the three-match series.
In the third and the final Test of the series, Broad displayed his hitting utilities at the lower-order with a quickfire 33-ball half-century.
Broad’s half-century was the joint second-fastest by an Englishmen in Test cricket, along with Andrew Flintoff and Allan Lamb. Ian Botham scored the fastest half-century for England in red-ball cricket, which came off just 28 deliveries.
Now, Broad has opened up on the inspiration behind his lightning knock, which came after a slight tweak in his technique.
“They were quite important runs. It was about changing the momentum of the innings. West Indies bowled beautifully this morning and I think if I had gone out there and tried to play regulation I think there was a ball with my name on it,” Broad commented in a news conference.
“I tried to up the momentum, hit the bowlers off a length and try and take Kemar (Roach) and Shannon (Gabriel) away from what they’d done so well in the first 40 minutes,” he added.
Broad then credited the advice dispensed by his Nottinghamshire coach Peter Moores responsible for his knock. Moore wanted Broad to replicate Shane Warne’s technique while facing fast bowlers.
“Tactically it was the right thing to do and something I’ve worked on with Peter Moores at Nottinghamshire. He brought me the example of Shane Warne who didn’t look particularly pretty at times but hit balls in different areas and was really effective, especially in the 2005 Ashes.” Broad concluded.
England posted 369 in the first innings on the back of impressive contributions from Broad, Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler.
Later, Broad came back and picked up a couple of wickets with the ball, leaving West Indies reeling at the end of second day’s play.
