After taking his 600th Test wicket on the opening day of the fourth Test, Stuart Broad described the past year playing under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as “probably the most enjoyable of my whole career”, and the ongoing Ashes tussle with Australia as “the series that just keeps on giving”.
Shortly after tea Travis Head was caught in the deep to become the landmark wicket, and Broad’s 18th of the series – no other England player has more than 10, while the leading Australian is Pat Cummins with 15. Chris Woakes took four as Australia ended the day on 299 for eight.
“Getting the 600th wicket from the Jimmy Anderson End, there’s something pretty special about that,” Broad said. “Baz and Stokesy have given me a new lease of life in a way. It’s such a free changing room. There’s no fear of failure there, there’s no judgment, and it’s all about moving the game forward – and I think that suits my style of play. It’s probably been the most enjoyable year of my whole career, which is an awesome thing to say at 37.”
With his 600th wicket Broad also eclipsed Sir Ian Botham’s record of 148 against Australia. “I’m a very competitive person on the field and I think Australia bring the best out of me because they’re so competitive as well. To be honest I’ve loved every minute of this series.”
Broad added: “I love the extra … I don’t know whether you call it pressure, but scrutiny and how much the public love it in England and Australia. I think how much I’ve played against [David] Warner, Steve [Smith], it’s been a pleasure to play against those guys for a long period of time.”
Three Australians scored at least 48 but none more than 51, with Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne scoring half-centuries. “In this series I think he’s been very impressive,” Labuschagne said of Broad.
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“On wickets that probably didn’t have as much pace and nip at times he’s shown his versatility – we know if the conditions are good for bowling then he’s always going to be a handful, but he’s shown through this series that when it’s not he can still keep it tight, wait for his opportunity and work a batter out.”
