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Stuart Broad 'angry, frustrated and gutted' at being left out of England side for first Test against West Indies
Stuart Broad has revealed he felt “angry, frustrated and gutted”, and found the decision to leave him out of the England team “hard to understand”.
Broad was one of two players left out of the final XI from the 13-man squad announced for this first Test with stand-in captain Ben Stokes telling him the night before the game that England wanted to go with the extra pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood as they build to the next Ashes series.
Broad spoke to Ed Smith, the chairman of selectors, and was reassured he still has a future in the England team after missing his first home Test for eight years.
“I spoke to Ed Smith and he said he was involved in picking the 13. I wanted clarification on my future going forward and I was given pretty positive feedback,” Broad told Sky Sports before play on Friday.
“I'm not a particularly emotional person but I've found the last couple of days quite tough. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement... you're disappointed if you drop your phone and the screen breaks.
“I’ve been frustrated, angry, gutted. It’s a hard decision to understand. I've probably bowled the best I've ever bowled the last couple of years. I felt like it was my shirt. I was in the team for the Ashes and going to South Africa and winning there. We are also in a unique position this summer with all your bowlers fit and ready to go.”
Broad watched most of the day’s play on Thursday while sitting on the balcony of his hotel room that overlooks the Ageas Bowl as James Anderson and Wood bowled in perfect seam-bowling conditions.
“Part of my strength as a bowler is that I have been fit on a lot of occasions and available for selection. I was frustrated in the fact that I felt like I deserved a spot in the team like everyone else. Chris Woakes, Sam Curran were bowling really well and probably deserve to be in the XI. It is hard to take but also I am quite pleased I feel frustrated, gutted and angry because if I didn’t I would have a different decision to make. I don’t think I have anything to prove. England know what I can do. The selectors know what I can do and when I get that opportunity again you can bet that I will be on the money.”
Broad and Anderson have taken 1080 Test wickets combined and England are wary of losing both at the same time having seen how the retirement of great cricketers affected Australia in the immediate post-Warne and McGrath era.
But Anderson will be 39 by the time the next Ashes starts and has broken down in two of his last three Tests before this match. Broad has not bowled one of his magical, wicket-taking spells since Johannesburg in 2016 and in 47 Tests since then has taken 3.2 wickets per game, not penetrating enough for a new-ball bowler. England recognised on the last Ashes tour that pace holds the key and vowed to hunt for bowlers capable of firing back at Australia.
Broad will not give up and he could make it to Australia at the end of next year where his experience in Brisbane could be important, and someone will have to do a holding role. But in the meantime he will have to become accustomed to not being a first-choice player in home conditions. England will rotate their bowlers with six Tests this summer in six weeks so he will not have long to wait to prove a point.
“I will be doing as much as I can in the next week to make sure I am ready for Old Trafford. The selectors said they will be picking for the pitch and their decision to go with extra pace on this pitch was based on the Ageas Bowl. If I get to Old Trafford and it looks like it might seam off a length I might get a chance,” he said, pointedly.
“It’s great to see strength and depth in the fast-bowling ranks. It’s the only way that England cricket moves forward and gets better. And with high competition in squads it keeps the standard high and it allows the players to play under pressure. Everyone is under pressure for their spots. There’s no crowd pressure here, there’s no usual pressure that comes with Test-match cricket so it’s hard to really see the usual pressure levels of Test matches that we come under scrutiny like that. But there’s certainly inward pressure within the squads because people want to get in the team."
James Anderson, Broad’s long-time opening partner, said that Broad would use his disappointment “as fuel to sort of push on and when he does get the nod he'll perform brilliantly.”
“We've played a lot together so having him at mid-off has been a familiar sight for me when I've been bowling so it was odd not having there but someone was going to be disappointed,” Anderson said. “I'm sure throughout this series we'll have bowlers that are disappointed to miss out but as we've got such strength and depth then people are going to have to miss out at times.
“I think it's great for the team also that Stuart is disappointed to be left out because it shows that he's passionate, he's desperate to be in this team and be a part of our success going forward, so I think that's a huge positive for the group.”
Anderson admitted that England were “up against it” in the game as they ended day three 99 runs behind, though with all ten second innings wickets in hand. "We have to bat the whole day tomorrow and get a decent lead to give us any chance of winning the game."
