Stuart Broad has admitted he would relish reprising his role as an Ashes pantomime villain during the forthcoming series against Australia.
The fast bowler’s refusal to walk during the 2013 Trent Bridge Ashes Test saw him hounded on and off the field when England travelled to Australia for the return series a few months later.
A sustained campaign against Broad ensued, with the Brisbane Courier Mail newspaper even refusing to print his picture or refer to him by name throughout the series.
However, the hostile reception from both the Australian media and fans — who came to the grounds in their thousands with T-shirts bearing the legend ‘Stuart Broad is a s*** bloke’ — only inspired him to perform better.
England may have lost the series 5-0 but Broad was his team’s best bowler by far, taking 21 wickets at 27.52.
“I think any player who comes over here with Three Lions on his shirt has to embrace the country but also has to expect a little bit of crowd stick,” said Broad. “It’s such a great rivalry and there’s such a great history — you have to be tough enough to deal with it.
“I’ve said in the changing room that this is as close as we get to being Premier League footballers playing away from home, a Manchester United player at Anfield. It’s exciting. When you retire, you don’t get those sort of feelings, of running on to a field and an atmosphere that brings nerves out of you — that’s where you want to be as a top-class performer. You sink or swim.”
This is a third Ashes tour for Broad, who will be rested for England’s four-day pink-ball warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide starting on Wednesday. He added: “I love the rivalry between the players and the fans — it’s a very special place to play your cricket.So you have to get ready for a little bit of stick but it’s so exciting when you do hear the crowd going wild and really getting stuck in.
“I’m a competitive person, we’ve got a lot of competitive guys in our team, and that’s something that really gets you going. I know how much the fans are desperate for their home team to win, so I appreciate what they do for their team — and it’s how it should be.
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“As an opposition player, you have to be strong enough to be able to cope with that. It’s all part and parcel of what makes the Ashes so special.”
One man who could take the attention away from Broad, whose spell of eight for 15 at Trent Bridge sealed England’s 2015 home Ashes win, is Ben Stokes.
The all-rounder is back home while he remains the subject of a police investigation into his late-night altercation in Bristol in September.
But Ryan Harris, part of Australia’s attack in the 2013-14 series and coach of the CA XI in Adelaide, believes Stokes will be a lightning rod for the home fans’ hostility if he does eventually join England on tour.
“It’s going to be hostile, no doubt about that,” said Harris. “We saw it last time with Stuart Broad. I don’t know Ben very well but from what I hear he’s a tough character so I’m sure that’ll just spur him on.”
Broad agrees, saying: “Stokesy is a hugely competitive character, someone who’ll never back away from a challenge, and we want him out here. If that means he has to get himself ready for a bit of crowd abuse, I’m sure he’s the sort of character that can cope.”
Broad’s absence from England’s team in Adelaide this week gives Jake Ball and Craig Overton another chance to stake a claim for the final seam bowler’s position in the Ashes XI after both played in last weekend’s tour opener in Perth.
Mason Crane, the young leg-spinner, also stays in the team in place of Moeen Ali, who is expected to recover from a side strain in time for next week’s final warm-up match in Townsville.
Yet Gary Ballance’s absence from the XI in Adelaide suggests England will stick with Middlesex’s Dawid Malan at No5 for the Ashes.
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