Ashes 2021-22: Ahead of the 72nd edition of Ashes, senior pacer Stuart Broad has admitted that his side could just be the worst prepared England side to tour Australia. Follow latest news on Ashes 2021-22 on InsideSports.IN.
Ashes 2021-22: We are probably the worst prepared England side to tour Australia – Stuart Broad ahead of 1st Test
Broad pointed out the due to the extra-ordinary circumstances owing to Covid-19, players from both the sides are lacking game time to go full throttle in the first Test in Brisbane which kicks off from December 8.
“I’ve come back from this calf injury hungry and I feel like something is building here. We can’t get away from the fact that we are probably the worst prepared England side to travel to Australia in the modern era: the rain has stuffed us out of sight, we have guys who have only faced eight balls in match conditions and bowlers who have only sent down 10 overs,” Broad wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
“Conversely, mentally we could be the freshest England side that’s ever been here and we know Ashes cricket is a mental game.
“It’s unrealistic to think that the 22 players who go out there for this first Test will do so in great form and in truth all of us will be finding our feet in one sense or other,” he added.
The 35-year-old also revealed about the conversation he had with Australia captain Pat Cummins in the hotel lift. He also asserted that the batsmen would have more problem adjusting due to the long breaks.
“I saw Pat Cummins in the hotel lift the other day and he said he’s not had a full day in the field for 10 months. That’s a long time. It’s physically demanding and we are not going to be able to deliver unbelievable levels of skill for five days.
“Players will make mistakes and that makes things harder for the batters than the bowlers, in my opinion. If I bowl a ball that goes for four, I get another go immediately. The chance is there to grow through the innings. But if a batter makes a mistake first ball, then they’re gone.”
The lanky pacer also talked about his milestone 150th Test, saying that the he was hoping to get a go in the playing XI in either of the first two Tests.
“An England cap with 150 on — it feels like an unbelievable number of matches to have been a part of given how physically demanding this form of the sport is, so if I get handed it at the Gabba on Wednesday or at Adelaide the following week, it is an achievement I will be proud of.
“Of course, I want to be out there from the start, and fitness-wise I am good to go having recovered fully from the calf injury that kept me sidelined at the end of the summer, but selection is in other people’s hands and I think I’ll play in one of the two matches. It is going to be a tall ask for fast bowlers to go back to back here in the circumstances we find ourselves in,” he wrote.
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