Stuart Broad enjoys the latest brush reinforcement with Mortality Test

Broad’s enthusiasm for the game is well known, and two days after the start of Lord’s Test, he was in a tumultuous mood – not least because his Nottingham Forest football team won a return to the Premier League after a 23-year absence. . He said he planned to approach the match as if it were his first (rather than his 153rd), and poured his “heart and soul” into the performance without worrying about how to handle the path to future commitments.

He also spoke about the philosophy that McCullum will expect from his players, based on accepting positive opportunities and trying to move the game forward at all times. For pitchers, this shrinks to a simple message: “Don’t focus too much on economic rates, I want goals.” It’s a glove Broad wants to pick up, even though he’s been accused in the past of conservatism and the success he and Anderson have achieved – in another incarnation – with bowling dry tactics.

“Goals are at the forefront of thinking,” Broad said. “That is, let’s look at the opponent and what our best chance of goals is. If we turn around and the pitch is slow and the slides are not in play, catching the covers and middle goals. In the past, there have been two or more, the pressure will see, that the batsman will make a mistake.

“Idea [now] how do we make the dough make a mistake faster: how faster do we apply pressure? If we can win the team in 85 overs at 3.3 per over, compared to 120 at 2.5 … it’s a better choice because it speeds up the game for our shots. I suppose it’s a balance to protect the economy or risk it by going full throttle. Yes, you can drive, but you have a better chance of getting goals. If I go on Thursday at 8 o’clock, don’t worry.

“I’d like to think I’m pretty offensive and he is [McCullum] he acts very relaxed, free and the way he talks to his players. I am sure that there are certain things in which it has a very clear direction, but it very much seems that if you have a positive opportunity here, I will support you. I’m really looking forward to working with him and I think Stokes will be a fantastic leader. “

“I think rather than looking at the summer as ‘hoping to fit the second test against South Africa’ – well, life doesn’t work that way,” he said. “That’s right, be very grateful for what I have this week and give your heart and soul this week. If I’m a little stiff and sore next week, we’ll move on and not play next week, or they want to give a new player. And if I haven’t set a goal to play this game, then everything is pink – so give it your all, train hard, if I get on the team everything will stay on that field.

“I told Jimmy today whether we get 0 for 100 or 5 for 30, performance doesn’t really matter now. It’s just a matter of putting everything in England and the environment and we’re good at getting results in the long run. horizon anyway. “

“I think every athlete has to constantly prove his worth, [and that’s] what to do with my thinking and striving to keep improving, “he said.” When I was 20 and started playing international cricket, my opinion was that I had to keep improving: white ball cricket, a new slower ball; red-ball, what can I do differently than in the past?

“Two years ago, I came up with the idea that the lower the holiday percentage, the better my spells will be. I’ll keep doing it, but I’ll be even more specific this summer. Because I’ve played so much cricket in the UK when I get to Lord’s, I’m going through end dates, spells, left- [and] right-handers, age of the ball: when do I have the lowest success rate? Get those batter matches at different times. [So I can be] I told the captain that my record from the end of the pavilion for lefties between 10 and 20 overs is very good. Maybe then I have a crack. “

The main number around Broad’s record at Lord’s is that he needs five more goals to become only the second pitcher (after Anderson) to score 100 test goals on the ground. That he was likely to get that chance, almost four months after being fired from the English test team for the first time in his 15-year career, is proof of the strength that still exists in it – ready to go “into battle”. time for McCullum.

“There is no doubt that when the team was in the West Indies, I missed it,” he said. “I wished I was there. You just realized that yes, these careers don’t last forever. You have to make the most of it and enjoy it. The moment that stops me entertaining and I lose my competitive spirit, then I won’t I thrive in this competitive spirit, and that’s why I feel like I can change the dynamics of the games very quickly.

“So yes, I liked it yesterday [in the nets]I loved charging. It was great to see the trainers again, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, and it was just a really good, vibrant feeling in the locker room, as it should be before the first test of the summer. We should all fly and have amazing energy.

“Brendon said one basic thing for his way of thinking – you chase every ball to the border as hard as you can until it’s on the edge of the border. That’s just positive thinking the whole time you give this game everything.” and then we will think about what will happen. “