International cricket returned last week when Ben Stokes led England took on the West Indies in Ageas Bowl. In his first match as the skipper, Stokes took a bold decision to leave out one of England’s greatest ever fast bowler Stuart Broad from the playing eleven. This brought in a lot of criticisms before the match which increased after England suffered a heartfelt loss to the visitors. But even after the loss, the controversies regarding Stuart Broad doesn’t seem to end, as the England Coach Chris Silverwood recently clarified that Broad is not a sure shot choice for the second test in Manchester.
Despite heavy criticisms coming from all parts of the world, the English management backed their decision to opt for extra pace. During his latest interview, England coach Chris Silverwood dropped hints that Stuart Broad might not be part of the playing eleven for the second Test as well.
“Nothing is a given in this team, as we have seen, and people will be playing for their spots. Everything will be considered.” Chris Silverwood said
“We have one or two stiff bodies, as you can imagine,” Silverwood said. “I have been down to see the guys already but they all seem to have come through well,” he added.
“I mean, we will probably know more after training tomorrow. We will put them through their paces and see where they are,” Chris Silverwood said.
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Ben Stokes in his first-ever test match as a captain, decided to drop one of England’s leading wicket-taker Stuart Broad, in order to bring in extra pace into the English bowling unit in the form of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. This move backfired the team as both Archer and Wood exhibited a below-par performance against the West Indies in the first test.
This move came in as a surprise to even Stuart Broad, who expressed his frustration and anger in the interview that he gave to the host broadcaster Sky Sports.
Broad was given assurance that the move was purely based on the nature of the pitch, and rightly so he expects himself to be picked in the playing eleven for the seaming conditions of Manchester. To bring in Broad, England would have to either drop Wood, who had a below-par outing or will have to rest the experienced James Anderson to prevent any occurrence of injury happening to the veteran due to consecutive test matches.
Broad, who has 485 Test wickets to his name has never missed a home Test since 2012, before this incident.
The second Test of the Wisden Trophy starts on July 16 at Old Trafford in Manchester.
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